Review: Siskiyou : “Siskiyou”
Siskiyou is a new project from the wide variety of the Vancouver music scene. Colin Huebert used to be a member of the acclaimed Indie Pop band Great Lake Swimmers. In collaboration with his former bandmate Erik Amesen who still plays with the Swimmers and the filmmaker Karolyn Keir, Huebert now releases a quiet folk album on Constellation Records.
Everything started with the songwriter sitting in his living room, recording songs and sketches with nothing more then his voice and an acoustic guitar. These rough recordings were the corner stones. For the final arrangements the two other bandmembers added instruments like trumpets, banjo or percussions to give the songs more space and a wider sound. Siskiyou is lo-fi folk at it’s best with passionate lyrics and catchy, modest melodies. Sometimes upbeat and euphoirc like in “everything I have” sometimes fragile and soft with lullabies like “hold it in” or “it’s all going to end”. In various moments the voice of Colin Huebert recalls memories of Bon Iver, another name that pops into mind is Nick Drake.
Siskiyou leave an imprint by quiet sounds. The tragically “big sur” is a nearly eight minutes long ballad with a sour quintessence: “let’s party all night long”, sings Huebert with deep bitterness in his voice and he keeps that feeling when the final track “brevity and insult” ends a very intense album.
european tour dates
07.11. Colmar (Fra) - Le Grillen
08.11. Paris (Fra) - La Maroquinerie
09.11. Orleans (Fra) - L’Atelier
10.11. Toulouse (Fra) - Le Cri de La Mousette
13.11. Bordeaux (Fra) - Le Saint Ex
14.11. Leiria (Por) - Teatro Miguel Franco
19.11. Madrid (Spa) - Moby Dick
20-11- Montichiari (Ita) - Galeter
22.11. Pegognaga (Ita) - Arci Casbah
23.11. Ariano nel Polesine (Ita) - Porcupine
26.11. Fribourg (Swi) - Fri-son
27.11. Utrecht (NL) - Kargadoor
28.11. Brussel (Bel) - Cafe Walvis
02.12. Berlin (Ger) - NBI
03.12. Göttingen (Ger) - The Living Room Society
04.12. Offenbach (Ger) -Hafen 2
05.12. Leipzig (Ger) - Paris Syndrom
06.12. Vienna (Aut) - Fluc
07.12. Fulda (Ger) - Kuz Kreuz
