I can't get enough of Hometowns. If the album were available on Amazon, at least five of my top 10 songs of the week on the left side of this page would be from the new album by The Rural Alberta Advantage. There are some hyper, rocking beauties like "The Deathbridge in Lethbridge," "Drain the Blood" and "Luciana." There are some mid-tempo wonders like "Don't Haunt this Place", "Sleep All Day," "Frank, AB" and the truly spectacular "Edmonton." There are some slow dirges like opener "The Ballad of the RAA" and closer "In the Summertime." And of course, there is one of the best songs I've heard in 2008, "Four Night Rider." I haven't heard any good new music from a brand new band since at least this summer (Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut) and I just can't stop listening to it. According to their Facebook page, the band consists of three members, Paul Banwatt, Amy Cole, and Nils Edenloff, who grew up in central and northern Alberta, Canada, and currently live in Toronto. I don't know much about Alberta of course, but there aren't any actual cities on the map north of Edmonton (which is in the center of the province). So it looks like that was their closest city as children (at least two songs namecheck the town) but it may have been a ways away from the wilderness north where they grew up.
Also according to Facebook, "They sing about summers in the Rockies and winters on the farm, ice breakups in the spring time and the oil boom’s charm, the mine workers on compressed, the equally depressed, the city’s slow growth and the country’s wild rose, but mostly the songs just try to embrace the advantage of growing up in Alberta." Their influences include Sufjan Stevens, Neutral Milk Hotel, and M. Ward (and seriously if you're going to namecheck those bands, I'm pretty much going to love you no matter what). Anyway, check out their webpage and buy the album -- or go to Facebook and listen to some tracks for free -- to the uninitiated I'd recommend "Four Night Rider" or "Luciana" or "Edmonton" or "Drain the Blood". But please buy their songs. They are as yet unsigned by even an indie label and I'm sure they could use the cash to keep making this type of wonderful music. And if anyone knows the lyrics to "Four Night Rider", please let me know, I can't find them anywhere -- according to Nils, it's about "these kids who ran away from home and were going to go to Edmonton."
Freezing each of the lymph nodes,
Maybe we gotta try to get out of town,
And I will, I love you, you know,
You love me, and it shows.
Maybe we gotta try.
As I crash at your place tonight.
Grandpa's passed out on the couch,
Take the "green belt?" to your house,
A shortcut through the ?floor that smells?
As we hit the front door, all the clothes on the floor,
Maybe we gotta try,
?There's a bike, go down?
And I will, I love you, you know,
You love me, and it shows.
Edmonton's just a four night ?bike? rider town.
Cold wind whipping through the windows,
Freezing each of the lymph nodes,
Maybe we gotta try.
And I love you and you know,
You love me, and it shows.
Edmonton's just a four night ?bike? rider town.
Video following the band on tour in Sackville, New Bruswick, CA -- a few songs and an interview on the drive there. Really cool stuff for anyone interested in the band.
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