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ABERYSTWYTH ARTS CENTRE The East Pointers 18 October / Hydref |
The East Pointers make folk music as current as the latest pop blockbuster out of Latin America. They have legions of young fans across the world. And they have just made an album to replicate that success in the UK. The East Pointers are fiddler/singer Tim Chaisson, Koady Chaisson on banjo and guitarist Jake Charron all from Canada’s East Coast. Their palpable authenticity makes their instrumental tunes infectious rhythm-driven hits and ensures their lyric-driven songs connect as though they were looking right in your eyes as they say the words. What We Leave Behind, produced by songwriter/producer Gordie Sampson, is the follow-up to 2015’s internationally acclaimed, JUNO Award-winning debut Secret Victory. What We Leave Behind reflects on the traditions of Canadian Celtic music, where it comes from, and what it means to the people, but also strides in new directions that make it totally contemporary. The trembling first single ‘82 Fires’ and the inspired ‘Two Weeks’, co-written with Sampson, were recorded at Nashville’s famed Sound Emporium last winter, where What We Leave Behind was cut. ‘82 Fires’ was born out of the band’s real experience of the disastrous Australian wildfires of 2016. ‘While on tour in Penguin, Tasmania we spoke with an older gentleman, a lifelong resident, who said that there were 82 wildfires currently on the loose in Tasmania, the most in over half a century. It hit home the severity of what we were all experiencing while we were there”, says Koady Chaisson. “It was a restless few days for us. Small human decisions about where to live or whether or not the show would go on didn’t matter, Mother Nature would always have the final say. Being in the middle of that brings an immediacy about it. You can feel powerless." The arresting ‘Two Weeks’ meanwhile documents a passage sadly common in the bands’ home province of Prince Edward Island and played out the world over in economically challenged communities: the need to leave home and travel far away from friends and family to find work. “When I played that song for my mom, she said ‘That’s going to hit home for a lot of people,’” Koady Chaisson explains. “Many families here are forced to split their time, with at least one member having to go out west, usually to Alberta, to make ends meet. It’s so hard. I did it, though luckily not for long, but there are people in my community going through it month after month, year after year.” The flip side of What We Leave Behind, and indeed, of The East Pointers’ electrifying concerts, are the scorching instrumental tunes that yank the freewheeling, Celtic-goosed past into the present. “Celtic-influenced tunes have always been at the core of what we do as a band,” says Jake Charron. “There's something powerful about a style of music that has been passed on for generations around the world.” A new take on this tradition is evident in the spry ‘Party Wave,’ inspired by a thrilling surfing experience the band enjoyed in New Zealand, one of many countries The East Pointers visited during ten months of touring in 2016. The tunes, written on the road, take you on a journey, building the excitement. This is what gives their live shows the atmosphere of a pop concert at the O2 and makes The East Pointers unique in the folk genre. Rounding out the album, are the affecting ‘John Wallace’, about a 19th century shipwreck off the coast of Prince Edward Island, and the moving ‘Hid in Your Heart’ upholding the band’s devotion to documenting real life, tragedy and all. What We Leave Behind carves a new path for The East Pointers, as they continue to blur the lines between traditional and popular music and continue to grow their devoted fan-base around the globe. The East Pointers will be at Aberystwyth Arts Centre on 18 October at 8pm. Tickets are available from the Arts Centre Box Office on 01970 62 32 32 or online at www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk October 2017 UK tour dates: Thu 12th The Hafren, Newtown 01686 614 555 / thehafren.co.uk Fri 13th Theatr Mwldan, Cardigan / Aberteifi 01239 621 200 / Mwldan.co.uk Sat 14th Wyeside Arts Centre, Builth Wells 01982 552 555 / wyeside.co.uk Mon 16th Borough Theatre, Abergavenny 01873 850 805 / boroughtheatreabergavenny.co.uk Tues 17th Memo Arts Centre, Barry 01446 738 622 / memoartscentre.co.uk Wed 18th Aberystwyth Arts Centre / Canolfan y Celfyddydau 01970 623 232 / aberystwythartscentre.co.uk Thu 19th Thomas Hughes Memorial Hall, Uffington 01367 820 282 / thmh.co.uk Fri 20th Manchester Folk Festival, Home, Manchester 0161 200 1500 / manchesterfolkfestival.org.uk Sat 21st Pocklington Arts Centre, nr. York 01759 301 547 / pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk Tues 24th Pittville Pump Room, Cheltenham 0844 576 2210 / cheltenhamtownhall.org.uk Wed 25th The Water Rats, Kings Cross, London folkonmonday.co.uk |
| Aberystwyth Arts Centre web site: www.aberystwythartscentre.co.uk |
| Marketing Dept. Aberystwyth Arts Centre e-mail: artscentre-marketing@aber.ac.uk |
Tuesday, September 19, 2017 |
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