First Spins: Pilot Speed!

April 21st, 2009

ps_wooden_bones

Allow me a teeny tiny fan-girl moment, if you please: the new Pilot Speed album Wooden Bones (from the band formerly known as Pilate) doesn’t come out for another week, but we have it for you to listen to today! Right now! At this moment! My excitement is manifesting in exclamation marks! … !!!!

Okay. Deep breaths. You want a piece of this action? Come and get it!

Some historical facts for the curious: The band has been around since 2000-ish, when vocalist/lyricist/piano player Todd Clark posted an infamous online ad looking for like-minded musicians, and attracted the attention of bassist Ruby Bumrah, who then recruited guitarist Chris Greenough and drummer Bill Keeley. They first made waves with the single “Into Your Hideout”, the video for which won an MMVA back in 2004.

The drum-heavy and quick-tempo sound of “Hideout” would neither be quickly forgotten, nor indicative of the band’s sound as a whole, as albums “Caught by the Window” and “Sell Control for Life’s Speed” would prove. Instead, the band seems to lean towards playing toned-down, introspective tracks like “Sell Control”‘s “Don’t Stare”, or crowd favourite “Alright”, from their first album, that has been known to hold at once captivate audiences and bring them to tears.

When the band signed with Wind-Up Records in 2006, a name change ensued, likely because the name “Pilate” might have garnered law-suits in the United States (from Pilates companies?). Either way, the band re-released their second album in the States as “Into the West”, and after touring the heck out of it across North America, went back into the studio to make Wooden Bones, which is full of songs you can enjoy in five minutes or less, as opposed to some of the longer pieces found on their earlier efforts. About this decision, Clark says: “It has nothing to do with trends. It’s about creating something that people can react to as they will, and hopefully it becomes a part of them.”

On Wooden Bones, Pilot Speed opens the record with the single “Put the Phone Down”, the most upbeat and energetic song on the album, with its chorus full of hand-claps and a riff like chocolate ice cream stains on your T-shirt: impossible to get rid of afterward, and damn enjoyable at the time.

After that, your horse moseys strictly into the territory of soaring melodies. From the anthemic everything-will-work-out-fine chorus of “Light You Up“, to the carnival keys that intro “Today I Feel Sure” and the organ that plays in the outro, to the album’s namesake track, “Wooden Bones”, that goes from a quiet little ditty about having hope in dark moments to a passionate outcry about how at the end of the day, life is still okay.

If I can have another fan-girl moment, it’ll just take a sec: the third track, “Bluff” ,is exactly the song I have been waiting to hear since I found out Pilot Speed was going back into the studio to record. It hits you in the throat, chokes you up, and leaves you standing there breathless, too stunned to sit down, while it steals your heart. The sincerity and honesty of Clark’s lofty vocals are backed up by some simple piano chords and Greenough’s clear guitar, which joins in just in time to bring the track to an arrow-sharp conclusion. But you know, it’s one of cupid’s arrows, so it’s okay.

Right. I’m done squeeee-ing. Back to reality.

But seriously, you have to hear this to believe it. And if you fall as in love with it as much as I have, you can pick up the album NEXT TUESDAY from iTunes, or your local music store. Look for me, I’ll be the one in the line doing this: =D

Tags: first spins, pilot speed