Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

ADMISSION: PWYC at the show / $20 Suggested

Listening to David James Allen, it often feels as if he channeling every cool record you’ve ever owned. Built upon a rootsy funkiness that’s part JJ Cale and The Band, accentuated with shades of Daptone and Bill Withers, his songs spin off into emotional realms populated by the likes of Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt and Harry Nilsson. As with all great art, the magic is conjured through alchemy, and more importantly, through a connection to a level of consciousness few of us have the capacity to access.

David James Allen has been releasing music for more than a decade, but over the past five years—after moving eastward from Toronto to the wilds of Prince Edward County—he has been startlingly prolific. Beginning with 2017’s When The Demons Come and carrying on through 2020’s Radiations and the following year’s The Architect, Allen has been steadily amassing a remarkable body of work that stands alongside those of any of his Canadian contemporaries. Now comes By The Summertime, an album that keeps Allen’s winning streak solidly intact. Allen cites Canadian poets Al Purdy and Nelson Ball for inspiring many of his new lyrics, but he could surely write his own book based on the backstories to each song on By The Summertime. Finding the sweet spot between simplicity and boundary pushing is a goal many artists seek with varying degrees of success. For David James Allen though, it just seems to be where he naturally resides.

“Allen’s voice is tangibly honest, engulfed in expressive guitar touchings and colorful steel shading. “For The Times” is a calling out, an emotional release of poetic design that rekindles the sunnyside-up twang stylings of Marty Stuart and Dwight Yoakam.”
– Glide Magazine (U.S.A)

“Radiations effortlessly combines Allen’s literary songwriting with late 60’s/70’s baroque pop, country, folk, and psych sounds resulting in a polished and multifaceted album that is warm, reflective, and has light melancholic undertones… a deeply satisfying listen.”
– Record Dept (U.S.A)

“The haunting and enchanting chorus of “I want you” is enough to hypnotize and send you into another dimension. The echoing vocals and wailing violin are like morphine to the ears, just easing any immediate pain and discomfort. Allen offers some kind of cosmic combination of Leonard Cohen-meets-Pink Floyd-meets-Gene Ween…”
– Music Mecca (U.S.A)

“Wonderful sounds that hearken to that same creative bag [of] Nilsson and to later John Lennon [DJA’s music] … is not steeped in current indie tropes, [it’s] music that [has] earnest wonderfully askew poetry delivered with a voice that has it’s own unique persona..”
– American Pancake (U.S.A)

“Effortlessly blending country, folk, psych and pop sounds into a wonderful kaleidoscopic sound that could easily exist in any of the last six decades.”
– Post To Wire (Australia)

“[When The Demons Come is] a stone cold brilliant album that absolutely should not become a tiny footnote of, in this case, Canada and Toronto’s (and even broader) music history.”
– The Spill Magazine (Canada)

“[David James Allen’s] rich and brooding voice is brimming with a sombre wisdom well beyond his years.”
– Colorado National Radio (U.S.A)

THE BROTHERS GENTLY
Opening the show are The Brothers Gently — A bizarre ride to the inside of a soul. Sinners, songwriters, poets, voice actors from Sydenham, Ontario. Left and Befter Gently’s debut album, The Pint of No Return, is now available.