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Car crash sent me on a journey
into Canada's freshest music
EXHIBIT A: Smashed after
it's paid for. / Photo by Trevor Brasfield
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By Trevor Brasfield
March 21, 2008 | In a moment, a maroon flash
came into my vision, obstructing the road on which
I was traveling, and within those precious seconds
my life got turned upside down and my cherry 1999
Subaru was severely damaged from one driver's
careless mistake.
It was a Wednesday unlike any other, where I
was in an accident with what I would later find
out was a seasoned accident professional. Yet
this accident was somewhat of a blessing in disguise.
The blessing would come later. First the car:
I had just paid the car off with help from my
wife in November. I have the title to it neatly
tucked away in a file cabinet in my office in
the house. I loved this car; it was the first
of many that I had where the seat conformed to
my butt, like the proverbial glove. Now my Subbie
is in pieces on the roadway having faced battle
with a high school kid's newer Chevy Trailblazer.
The front and rear bumper, both side doors, the
hood, side fender, side mirror, tire and rim on
the passenger side were all toast. They would
need to be replaced and repainted in order to
be whole again. I could hear my Subaru weeping
onto the pavement as I waited for Logan's finest
to show up.
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DALLAS GREEN of
City and Colour. |
Once the dust settled and the car was safe and secure
inside the bay doors of the auto body shop, my journey
and the reason for the blessing began.
My father has a full regatta of cars and trucks, so
I of course called him up to beg for a car to borrow,
so I could get to work, and a job interview in Ogden.
He of course obliged by giving me his little Toyota
Corolla to use as a replacement for the Subaru. Now
my dad has to drive over an hour to and from work each
day, and to combat the constant boredom of the road
my dad has purchased two things. One is XM Radio, and
the other is an iPod adaptive radio. The XM was what
intrigued me; I have never really used XM, which is
a satellite radio service with music from any all spectrums,
which is what I fell in love with.
Particularly, one channel called The Verge, which is
Channel 52 on the XM receiver.
The Verge is out of Toronto, Canada, and showcases
Canadian rock and folk artists. Some are already popular
in the United States, such as the Arcade Fire and Feist,
while many are obscure outside of the borders of the
Great White North. Now being a red-blooded American
I believed that there were only three good things to
ever come out of Canada: the movie Strange Brew,
Molson Canadian in the 12-ounce bottles, and, OK, just
two things then. Flannel does not count. Yet once I
began to hear the tremendous sounds of Canadian music
being pumped through the Corolla's speakers I began
to change my mind about the land of maple leafs and
hockey.
In particular I admired one artist, City and Colour.
Even the spelling screams French Canada, but his voice
overcomes any stigma you may perceive. The band is primarily
made up of Dallas Green, a tattooed and bearded crooner
who sports flannel and an acoustic guitar when he performs.
The Verge play many of his immensely powerful tunes,
especially the song entitled Waiting from his
newest album Bring Me Your Love. The song Waiting
has haunted my dreams since listening to it with its
melodic intro strummed on an acoustic guitar, and then
Green's voice rings into my ears and my life suddenly
changes. I for one wanted to immediately follow the
lyrics and sing right along with him. Then the song
picks up and you are carried along on his journey of
sadness, solitude and death.
I just had to get my fix of his music. I rushed home
and got onto i-tunes and purchased Bring Me Your
Love and burned several copies for my wife, friends
and family. It was a full-scale Canadian Invasion and
I loved it. I have yet to stop listening to this CD,
I listen to it in the car without searching our replaying
any tracks. I love all the tracks on the album -- the
songs sound like Bob Dylan on one track, than Neil Young,
and then like nothing you have ever heard before.
City and Colour is a beautiful sound to accompany
the most inevitable thing in life, death; with track
names such as Body In a Box and The Death
of Me you have to take heed to the message he is
portraying on this disc. The lyrics from this disc haunt
you in its grim callousness of death with the beautiful
melody of a harmonica, and slide guitar accompanying
the words: “There's a funeral possession on the highway,
traffic screeches to a halt, people searching for a
better way to live there lives . . . oh,” and “The reaper
crept in and took his breath away” make you stand up
and take notice that this is not a disc for the happy,
but one for those who are searching for the light, the
light of death and knowing.
Yet not all the tracks will haunt you some of them
make you happy for the one you love, you know that special
lady you share your life with, The Girl has
two versions accompanied to one track, the first half
is a slow acoustic homage to the girl who sacrifices
everything so you can search for your dream, the second
half is the same song but makes you get out of your
chair and dance with this special girl.
The entire album is exquisite, the arrangement of
instruments is superb, and the voice is magnificent.
I would dare say this is the best album I have ever
heard, I recommend it to anyone who is an Iron and Wine,
Martin Sexton, Ray LaMontagne, and Josh Ritter fan.
In fact anyone who enjoys excellent folk music would
find this special gem, one that would never be put down.
So you can see why a vicious blow to my pride and
joy became such a blessing in disguise, I found a new
friend in the terrific sounds of Canadian radio, and
the even more precious City and Colour. The car has
been released from the body shop; I have had to begrudgingly
return the Toyota with the XM radio. I did get the job
I interviewed for, the professional accident driver's
insurance did pay the $4,968.84 bill on my Subaru, and
I get to solace myself with the superb sounds of my
City and Colour album.
I cannot say enough about Dallas Green and his side
project City and Colour his voice carries you away on
a magical harmonic journey, the best track by far on
his album is all of them, I have never been able to
actually say that about a album before, even more favorite
albums of all time like U2's Joshua Tree, Ray
LaMontagne's Trouble, and Neil Young's Harvest.
These albums are amazing but I cant listen to the entire
album in its entirety, unlike Bring Me Your Love,
which is amazing I highly recommend this album to anyone.
MS
MS
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