Canary Room by Canary Room

Following a quietly recorded intimate collection of songs and a lively string of shows playing out in Portland, Maddy Heide's outfit Canary Room made the trek down to Southern California to record their debut self-titled album. Produced by the band's guitarist/pedal steeler/harmonist extraordinaire Skyler Pia (along side her father and brother), this record sees the band stretch out into hi-fi country folk glory. Each band member is at peak form: Elias Williamson both pushing the rhythmic boundaries of Heide's compositions and grounding the interlocking melodies with their unbreakable pulse, Paul Moyer provides magnificent flourishes of harmony via pianos and keyboards, even Pia's father guests on bass guitar on a couple tracks. The track list here includes songs from Heide's last EP 'Christine' (bud023) which reemerge here as ecstatic full band affairs, bursting at the seams with instrumentation. Along with those songs are a string of newer tracks that show Heide's growth as a songwriter, with each lyric, the listener dives deeper into the insular world she inhabits. We follow her through her living room and bedroom, encounter characters in her life, and even venture out into her dreams and visions. It's absolutely miraculous to see Maddy's masterful songwriting take off with such a marvelous arc.

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"'I’d ask you to remember it if I saw you.' The opening line of folk rock group Canary Room’s eponymous debut is a microcosm of songwriter Maddy Heide’s favorite themes. Precious memories are held between loved ones, straining to maintain connection despite vast distances of land and time. While influenced by the forward thinking work of Joni Mitchell and Adrianne Lenker, these songs create worlds entirely their own. A group of friends before they were a band, Heide’s ensemble intuitively colors outside the careful lines she has crafted. On “Lake Effect”, amid the flawlessly sensitive arrangement, Heide lets us know her goal: “I wanted to take it all and give it all away.” Canary Room has generously done exactly that, and we are all better off for it."
-Joan Kelsey

pnw tape label

(banner photo by bailey bast)

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