Indie Inside: Loon Choir

Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

From Canada’s parliamentary hub and capital city comes Loon Choir — an urgent pulse of fresh sonic air featuring textured guitar, synth, and violin hooks backed by a sometimes groovy, sometimes four-to-the-floor backline that lays the foundation for powerful choral-esque male and female vocals whose lyrics allude to injustice and the destruction of nature. 

Loon Choir has been raising its profile nationwide, with a successful cross-Canada tour following the release of their second full-length album, Fire Poems, which was produced and engineered by the brilliant James Bunton in May 2012. Hit songs “All Boats Don’t Rise” and “Nowhere to Go” have been among CBC favourites — the former reached Number 2 on the R3-30. The band was also shortlisted for an R3 Bucky Award for Rookie of the Year in 2012.

Loon Choir even made an impression across the ocean in 2011, when single “Bricks” was released in the U.K. on an international compilation that featured just two Canadian acts.

Recordings aside, the live experience is where Loon Choir really shines. The energy behind their catchy synth and guitar riffs, the transcendent harmonies and contagious beats are sure to get any crowd moving. The Loons’ appearance at festivals like Pop Montreal, NXNE, JUNOfest and Ottawa Bluesfest and their growing fan base across the country following their last tour are testament to the band’s ability to consistently deliver spectacular outbursts of energy during live performances

Recently the band released its highly anticipated third album All of This and Everything Else. The new release delivers the band’s signature sound, blending cerebral ambience, catchy hooks, melodic harmony, and driving rhythm.

Andrea Warner, CBC Music, said the album “[…] is the kind of record that will remake its shape with every listen. It can be as big or as small as you need it to be. It belongs to you.” 

Their first single “Bug” spent six weeks on the CBC’s R3-30 Countdown, was featured on Songs You Need To Hear This Week, and received kudos from CBC’s Grant Lawrence: 

“An absolutely epic song from this huge Ottawa band […] Loon Choir has an incredibly full and rich sound that conjures the finest memories of Hey Rosetta!, Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade. What’s more Canadian than the collective cry of a Loon Choir, anyway?”

The album is proudly home grown in Ottawa — recorded at Little Bullhorn Studios with producer James Bunton from Toronto (and of Ohbijou). The new album follows 2012’s Fire Poems.

Loon Choir premiere their new video Always Golden on rabble.ca. Always Golden is a song about the alienation of work. The theme takes on the idea of selling our lives to the capitalist class for their profit and our survival. The lyrical style is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and poking fun at the western work ethic of working hard and staying loyal for social mobility: whether it’s an office worker getting dolled up for the day or a retail worker memorizing polite platitudes. Ideally, listeners will recognize the innate exploitation that occurs daily, that the working class has tremendous potential and “we don’t have to live like this.”

Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.