AroarA, a Canadian husband and wife duo comprised of Andrew
Whiteman (Broken Social Scene) and Ariel Engle (Land of Kush), bring us a most
exquisite debut entitled “In the Pines”. This EP, available now on the artist website, is part of a forthcoming album, an adaptation
of Alice Notley’s book of
poems of the same name. Each song corresponds with one of the poems and
contains words and phrases in the lyrics.
If the E.P. is any indication, the release of the
full-length album is sure to be as intimate and haunting. Everything on this
5-song “ballad” is sweet and sad, as if it exists on the periphery, in some
other dream-like place that only the poet could have imagined and these musicians
could have personified.
BUST is no stranger to this little group, as AroarA stopped
by the BUST
SXSW Party to play at The Pussy Palace.
Following up their friendly nature,
AroarA kindly spoke to me about the inspiration behind creating this album.
Andrew shared his love of the poetry’s sense of self-discovery through
confrontation, and how while reading Alice’s work, he felt pulled in by her
folky, bluesy voice. As Andrew and Ariel are not, in fact, folk musicians,
perhaps tackling the conversion of Alice’s work into song would help him follow
a similar journey of self-discovery?
“There is a strong 'gothic' element in the work, and after a
while, it occurred to me that 'In The Pines" might be converted back into
folk music. What would that music sound like filtered through the words of a
woman who is a feminist, a lifelong poet, and a radical in her choices?” The
process started with Andrew pulling phrases and words from the poems to build traditional
folk songs. Once about 10 or so songs had been written, Ariel and Andrew began
to add music to the lyrics. To be sure they were doing the poetry justice, the
pair assembled a sample of songs and sent them to Alice. With the poet’s
blessing, and acknowledgement that AroarA had built something all their own,
thus an album was born.
“We considered ourselves working somewhat in a traditional
manner. So we put constraints on how
we made the songs and what instruments and textures to use,” said Andrew. This
included “recording in our living room and at our friend’s cottage.”
The folky, homey feel of the recording combined with the cigar
box guitar-style, and the way the duo’s voices share the space of the songs
makes you want to sink into a big hammock next to the river and drink whiskey
late into the April afternoon sun. And doesn’t that sound like a place under
the pines to seek and find?
Originally posted on BUST.com
