The Rural Alberta Advantage

A week or so ago, my brother and I had a lengthy conversation about current Scottish groups and their musical similarities. Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Glasvegas, and Meursault share components, exhibit musical or lyrical parallels that are undeniable. Despondent verse coupled with swelling, intricate orchestration exudes from each of these five bands in a variety of forms. A shared musical tradition is the first, and most obvious, component to garner attention, and appropriately so. The local popularity of Idlewild during the mid to late nineties illustrates the subsequent influence that Edinburgh-bred quintet unmistakably had amongst Scots maturing and exploring their own musical taste in the ensuing years. Yet, what is it about the Scottish climate that inclines many toward such themes, yearning to rent open chest and skull alike so the audience can peer at crestfallen, beating heart and melancholic introspective thoughts? It is a subject that would require further, and more expansive scrutiny.

Enter The Rural Alberta Advantage, a trio based in Toronto, whose 2009 debut release Hometowns exhibited, in my opinion, a high degree of similarities with that distinct Scottish sound. Hometowns represents a phenomenal premiere performance. It's thirteen tracks are executed with seasoned precision, and reveal deeply beautiful harmonies between male and female voices. The woefully demoralized nature of the verse initially drew my attention, soliciting comparisons with Scott Hutchinson's weary and fragile disposition. There are interior, shielded insecurities and doubts exposed with a fatigued frankness, whether lamenting the slow decay of love ("So wipe the sleep from your eyes / And I'll wipe 'em out of mine too / If we try to hold on, then I'll try to hold on to you / Well I shouldn't sleep all day / But it's half past noon / 'Cause I know we're taking a break / And I know you're leaving me soon") or the painful self-examination of withdrawal ("What'll I do if you never find me again / Sittin' in a province a million miles from my friends / What'll I do if you never want me again / Come with me, come back we'll live again / What if I'm only satisfied when I'm at home / Sittin' in a city that'll never let me go / What if I'm only satisfied when I'm alone). As those passions are articulated with increasing yearning and the shroud of stoicism is pulled back, the vocal influence of Jeff Magnum is eerily recognizable, and to a similar degree the musical motifs of Neutral Milk Hotel manifest themselves on Hometowns as well.

There is a uniqueness, however, in the trio's sound. In a majority of songs, percussion is dominant, or at least adopts a more decisive presence. Rapid or smoothly pouring like the soothing, constant crash of a waterfall, the synchronization of drums and cymbals can drive a track in a remarkably unique manner. We are so used to a guitar riff or piano chord planting itself in the foreground, that a reliance upon percussion to do the same is quite refreshing. "Don't Haunt This Place" and "In The Summertime" are indicative of this trend at its most successful, a manner in which, to my mind, only Maps & Atlases and Local Natives have achieved of late. It will be most fascinating to determine whether Rural Alberta Advantage's sound and verse mature on their sophomore album due in March.