Nanaimo art rock group Gold and Shadow were about to head into the studio to record their first EP in two years when they decided their closing track needed an impromptu re-write.
The song would have ended the record with a built-up rock-jam outro. Guitarist Dane Letourneau said it would have been a typical conclusion to a Gold and Shadow song, which was precisely why they felt they should do the exact opposite.
“We decided the very last minute in the last rehearsal to axe it because we were like, ‘This is so us. What if we just didn’t do that at all?” he said. “So we just went into the studio that we had paid a bunch of money for and we were just like, ‘OK, I guess we’re just going to play it this brand-new way that we rehearsed once.'”
Leturneau said it was a risk for the band – Letourneau, guitarist Jordan Lineker, keyboardist Matt Lineker, bassist Jesse Lough and drummer North York – but it paid off to resist habit and try something new.
“In this band’s history we’ve done a lot of that, just built it up to this huge climax with guitars and symbals. So we didn’t do that,” he said. “I was really proud of us for restraining ourselves.”
Restraint is the key work on the band’s new album, Gather and Scatter, which turns down the usual rock ingredients in favour of a concoction emphasizing vocals and synthesizers.
On Aug. 31 Gold and Shadow performs at the White Room.
“Basically, the story of this band has been adding more synths as time has gone on…” Letourneau said.
“It’s also just exciting for us because it’s new. We’ve played guitars with big pedal boards, that’s kind of been our thing for a lot of the time in this band, so synth is a new thing for us.”
Letourneau said the group isn’t interested in making conventional rock or pop music, and for a long time the band’s mentality was “we all need to be doing something really interesting.” However, he said this led to their compositions becoming too dense with activity.
“We wanted to do something really interesting and we listened to a lot of avant-garde and experimental stuff,” he said. “But our idea of doing something interesting was every single person in the band doing something individually interesting, kind of like an all-star basketball team where there’s too many stars on the court and you don’t know who to pay attention to.”
He said it can sometimes be a challenge to pass the ball under those circumstances, but on the new album the musicians give each other time to shine.
“It’s a difficult learning process though because it’s hard to just sit back and support your bandmates,” Letourneau said. “It’s easier to just do what you want to do and be the all-star.”
WHAT’S ON … Gold and Shadow perform at the White Room on Friday, Aug. 31. Doors at 8 p.m. Suggested donation $10.
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