Hi All, LONG TIME NO SEE! This preview marks my return to music writing after having been away for a bit and oh my, is this ever a fantastic reason to be back 
Canadian duo Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland, collectively known as Whitehorse, are playing the Entry Wednesday night, February 13. Not only are Doucet and McClelland bandmates, they are also husband and wife, and both are successful in Canada in their own right. McClelland is known for bringing bloody-knuckled tales of bad apples to life. She often shares the stage with Sarah McLachlan as touring partner and backing vocalist. Victoria Day, Melissa’s latest solo album, cemented her status as an “uncommonly talented” artist in Canada, says national daily newspaper, The Globe and Mail. Luke Doucet is known for his scorching work on his signature Gretsch White Falcon. As noted in Guitar Player Magazine, “whenever and wherever Luke Doucet hits the stage, he wrestles every last ounce of Neil Young-battles-Brian Setzer twang out of his gleaming cream-and-gold companion.” Doucet’s most recent solo release, Steel City Trawler, attracted four-star reviews across the board, as well as a Juno Nomination.
Individually, they have been recognized with awards and nominations from the Juno Awards, Polaris, Canadian Folk Music and Independent Music Awards. So with two strong solo careers, why Whitehorse? The theme of tempting fate appears again when considering how much the stakes have been raised: “We’re kind of breaking one of the cardinal rules. We’re getting away with murder. This isn’t supposed to work. It’s supposed to end in a hail of bullets and tears,” Doucet has said.
You could call the musical marriage of Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland a star-crossed creative partnership. The husband and wife duo behind Whitehorse defies the math of one plus one with their inventive, expansive new album The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss and a live show that beats the band with its chemistry and complexity.
Their new album, The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss, released January 15, 2013 on Six Shooter Records (you know Six Shooter, the record company whose motto is “Life’s too short for shitty music!”) showcases their fusion of blistering guitar work and perfectly matched vocals, as well the expanding range of creative possibility that comes as Whitehorse develops and focuses their sound. From the opening track, the psychedelic-meets-Spaghetti Western scorch of “Achilles’ Desire to the sunset-on-water acoustic sparkler “Mismatched Eyes (Boat Song),” the clever pop of “Out Like A Lion,” and the pulp influenced suspense of “Devil’s Got A Gun,” the album covers impressive ground without compromising its artistic coherence.
The album title comes from a Wonder Woman comic glued to the table in a diner in Vancouver, BC. “We loved the drama of it, and it’s almost taken on this personal meaning: our marriage, our career, our home, the road, everything is wrapped up in one,” McClelland explains. Beyond this, the title also conveys a sense of urgency about the world today, Doucet notes. “It is both romantic and intimate, but at the same time it carries a more foreboding social subtext.”
The songwriting process is collaborative without erasing their individual styles; imaginative narratives bear McClelland’s fingerprint, while the intimate personal stories tend to come from Doucet. “The studio process is fairly organic,” Doucet says. “We pull in one of a handful of drummers we admire and play him some songs until his eyes light up. Then the three of us build a song. Often the main vocals, guitars & drums all go down together. Then we add bass, keys, pedal steel, extra guitars & percussion… banjos if needed. Whatever is lying around the studio is fair game. We’ll bash on anything if we can get a sound from it.”
It’s one thing to show innovative production on a record; it’s another to bring it to the stage. Whitehorse’s live show wrests complex layers of percussion, keyboard and telephone receiver amplification with looping pedals, adding complicated (and risky) elements into their mesmerizing guitar work and smoldering vocal chemistry. “We have a pretty complicated setup on stage,” McClelland says. “We’re looping rhythms. Luke has a kick drum and I have a stomp box, and we have seven guitars, bass guitar, keyboards, tons of percussion. So for a lot of the songs, we’re building pretty complicated loops and playing along to that. We’re building it very organically on stage so anything can happen. It’s gone very wrong, and very right.”
This album brings to mind another one of my absolute favorite duos and also a husband and wife team, Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson, Australia’s answer to Whitehorse. There’s a subtle understanding between these artists, one not often heard, which allows them to be adventurously safe in the music they make, not with the listener but which each other, each one knowing the other won’t let them down. While Chambers and Nicholson are classified as country, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, I feel that the music that they, as well as Whitehorse, make, is more about bare bones, letting the listener take from it what they will, folk and dare I say “Americana” roots rock? However you classify it, it’s downright awesome and I’m assuming even better live.
I’m really, really hoping to catch their performance Wednesday night, or at least part of it. I could use a good show, it’s been awhile
Being here is like being at a musical event, a wide variety of people, a beautiful rainbow of clothing styles (my personal favorite!), musicians who obviously love what they’re doing, all make for a wonderful drama filled evening that I’m thrilled to be a part of.
