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

Event Description

Born in a bedroom, impatient with the lack of patience in late nineties indie rock, Raising the Fawn was started in 1997 as a one-man show. When you write and play everything yourself, questions are both easily asked and answered. Everything that I originally sought for the music — minimal arrangements, gentle playing, gradual pacing, a reaction against the flailing, manic nature of indie rock — was practically dictated to me by the setup of a guy and his four-track. Even as the debut CD (2001) was released and Raising the Fawn became a live band, the “singer/songwriter” reins stayed firmly in my hands. In retrospect, motivated by both fear and ego, I did little to change that hierarchy for a long while.

Today, Raising the Fawn is truly a band. Although 2003’s By The Warmth of Your Flame EP and 2004’s The North Sea featured group players, the lineup was always in flux — guitarists leaving, drummers coming and going, then arriving and, finally, departing. My dear friend and bassist, Scott, was the only constant. When we hit the road to promote The North Sea, Dylan had only just joined and we were a virgin trio trying to figure out how to respectfully translate music for the stage that was recorded by a quartet plus overdubs.

To become a band, you have to display trust. Faith in your friends. In sheer musical terms, these ideas are the themes of The Maginot Line. Sonically, the record is about giving up control and allowing the band, not the individual, to find the way for the song. Decisions that Scott, Dylan and I made, both in accord and in conflict, are the structure of this album’s sound. Even further, our trusted and gifted friend Marty Kinack (Sarah Harmer, Hayden) became the band’s first producer. His eloquent, and when necessary hilarious, guiding hand was always executed with perfect timing and understanding. He was the guardian angel and stewart of this recording.

The writing of The Maginot Line was a process of half-writing — nuggets of ideas, random verses and choruses purposely unfinished and brought to the table for committee assembly. The initial results were slow, frustrating, and occasionally even disheartening. But the final package is something that has characteristics to which the band could never before lay claim. It is next to impossible to convey with words, but the feeling the three of us get when we listen back to songs like “Christmastime in the Fields” or “Until It Starts Again” is one of unified conception. These are songs whose every nuance bears the DNA of its three proud papas.

It seems elementary that this would be so — I can hear people asking, “aren’t all bands like that?” Well, I can’t speak for all bands, but our band, despite real efforts over the years, was never like that. The Maginot Line is Raising the Fawn’s fourth release and third full-length, but it is the first whose subsequent tour will feature the same lineup as the one that recorded the album. Somehow, the weird road that we took to reach this point has made everything around us that much more valued.

We come to you with a few grey hairs, our share of wrinkles, and a connection that has been earned over time. The Maginot Line is our best record yet, and not because that is the thing that you are supposed to say right now. It just couldn’t have turned out any other way.
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