I think we were both able to do what we wanted to do as artists for so long.”įearless is also a record of contrasts. “I mean, let's be honest here, there's a little bit of cleverness for cleverness' sake in there too,” Comeau chuckles. Sonic landscapes imbued with feeling and focus, each one flowing into the next. Lavish epics married with concise pop song ideals. Rather than clobber its audience with complexity, Fearless creates a world you want to spend time in. It’s an unashamedly rich, ambitious work – in an era of quick fixes and clickbait. Recorded at Universal’s studio in Toronto with producer David Bottrill (Rush, Muse, Tool, Mastodon) Fearless came together over a six-month period, in short, intense bursts between tours. Folk songs and fantasies in luxurious prog packages. It’s a virtuosic hybrid that reveals a treasure chest of progressive, rock, troubadour and electronic strains. Classic qualities are stirred into fresh themes and issues close to their hearts. Electric sitar can be heard in “Starlifter,” along with Indigenous flutes and riffy rock guitars. Synthesiser sequences take them to new, daring places. The blood of Rush runs deep in Fearless’s veins, swirled with flavours of Yes, Pink Floyd and the wealth of artists that have shaped Crown Lands. “Whenever we've toured and reached out to our fans on social media, like 'what do you want to hear in the set?' it's always the longer songs,” says Bowles, who threw themself into vocal lessons over the pandemic, “which is great, because that's what we always wanted to do.” After a steady stream of new music, the band’s fresh approach and mission-driven catalogue garnered them the 2021 Juno Award for “Breakthrough Group of the Year.” Now, following the success of long, conceptual singles they’ve made a modern-day progressive opus – second studio album, Fearless. This paved the way for an introduction to three of Crown Lands heroes: Terry Brown, Nick Raskulinecz, and David Bottrill – all prolific producers that worked with them on their breakthrough track “Context: Fearless Pt. Raw blues rock songs like “Spit It Out” and “Howlin’ Back” gave them a gateway into the live scene and grabbed the attention of listeners the world over. Originally, Crown Lands got their foot in the door with punchy, straight up rock’n’roll, compiled on their Juno-nominated, self-titled record, Crown Lands LP (2020), recorded at RCA Studio A in Nashville and produced by six-time Grammy winner Dave Cobb (Rival Sons, Chris Stapleton). But when we come together, it's like, what would Pink Floyd do if they jammed with Rush? It's a different kind of headspace.” And when Cody's on their own, Cody's playing all these amazing flutes these days, and that's a whole other world. “When I'm alone and making music, it's synth music, kind of like Vangelis or Tangerine Dream or John Carpenter. “We don't really do a lot in solitude for this band,” Comeau says. All the while, heaps of riffs were amassed. Tolkien, Dune author Frank Herbert, Buddhist meditation master Chögyam Trungpa and the Flash Gordon and Terminator soundtracks. Cultural touchstones that include the worlds of J.R.R. Slapstick jokes over movies and Indian food. Urgent odes to the mistreatment of their country’s Indigenous peoples (captured in 2020 single “End Of The Road”). Sprawling conversations over walks in the woods. Since meeting in 2015 at a band audition – where they bonded over a love of prog icons Rush – the leonine-haired pair have thrived on a diverse mix of ideas and activity. “We can still pull a lot of this shit off live with no tracks, no trickery and no additional members.” “I think the wow factor of Cody and I pulling this shit off, as two people, is something we have to maintain in the live show,” Comeau reasons. All of it tempered with current issues, and all of it as a duo. The enigmatic brainchild of singer/drummer Cody Bowles (a reconnecting Mi’kmaq Two Spirit, who grew up learning from the elders of Canada’s Alderville First Nation reserve) and guitarist/keyboardist Kevin Comeau (a Jewish-born bassist from Whitby, Ontario, whose ancestors made it through the Holocaust), the band channels ancient spirits into fantastical stories. Though still in their twenties, Crown Lands have profound ties to history. It’s prog rock, but not as you know it – or as you thought it could be. Counter-culturalists for the 21st century, informed by a cocktail of old-world thinking, science-fiction, and musical narrators from Rush to Paul Simon, Led Zeppelin to John Prine. Advocates for the LGBTQ+ and indigenous communities. Painters of strange, absorbing universes. Crown Lands are born storytellers, with eyes on this world and others.
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