Label: unsigned

Producer: Symphony in DeMeanor

Release Date: 2004

For Symphony in DeMeanor's intro in the IOM Interview, I said ' Symphony in DeMeanor, are without doubt, one of the best and most musically accomplished bands EVER to have come out of Canada.. correction... North America! Their debut CD 'Symphony in DeMeanor' contains only six tracks, which is a crime, but those six tracks are among the best written, composed, performed, and produced tracks that I have ever heard in my life! And, like a lot of artists who produce brilliant music, they don't appear to realize quite what they have done! Their music is very Beatles, very ELO, very Queen, and very very Symphony in DeMeanor... George Martin would be walking on air had he produced this album...' A few months later folks, they won Best Album in the International Online Music Awards!

You see, Symphony in DeMeanor and many of the rest of us have something in common.. a total appreciation for astonishing record production, electrifyingly innovative songwriting, and superb musicianship.. something that was prevalent on just about everything that ever emerged from Abbey Road Studios at the hands of four lads from Liverpool and their headmaster 'Sir George Martin'.

Now that appreciation is apparent in this 2004 offering, but it's a very difficult thing indeed to turn mere appreciation into an IOMA winning album. Of course, Symphony in DeMeanor have accomplished this... and I must confess that they do, occasionally, make me sick!

This pioneering and advanced audio collection opens with the very very beautiful Lonely Fool - an astonishingly skilled production complete with ELO/McCartney/Lennon/Harrison/Starr/Martin/Emerick contemplations that make the track every bit as exciting as if all seven had been involved in the project. The songwriting is expert and masterful and the overall production is the stuff of dreams... watch what happens to your widening senses at the piano flicks and orchestrations... Say Goodbye has something entirely different going on.. there are hints of Santana/Lennon/ELO-esques here and there but the essential truth is that it's another SID classic that takes you back to a time when radios all over the world, complete with a PP3 battery, poured excellence out of their little 3 inch speakers in the back kitchen's of the informed! Prepare yourselves for the stunning Hammond organ and Abbey Road medley style guitar bits that embellish the brilliance around the end of the track... yes Rob and Co... you did brilliantly!

Crazy Man is a truly excellent song in every aspect at every level imaginable. This is a real favourite here at R Cat... I love the lyrics and vocals.. a little introspective but beautifully realised and if my mother was around... I'm sure she'd have a pin up of the lead guitar player next to her pillow... it's phenomenal playing inside a phenomenal track. When everything gets a little quiet and a little haunting around the end of the song... you realise you've been had by one of the best bands that ever sailed their wares out of Vancouver harbour! Crazy Man is followed by Another Birthday - now here's what you do... imagine this track on a modern day Sgt pepper and you get the gist of what this band have gone and done! We have reflections of Floyd and Brian May here all woven together in a very very 1966 - 1986 production. The arrangement is beautiful and thought provoking in itself but the lyrics drive the message and the melancholia home... yep... it's a superb song!

SID's version of White Rabbit is Elley Wilson's favourite and she LOVED the original.. choosing it over all others at many an Albertan/British Columbian bar! What makes this version soar to astonshing heights is the arrangement and the musicianship more than anything else... it's a well crafted cover and only SID could have done such a magnificently unique job in bringing it into the new millenia! Farewell Marissa.. is confirmation that this band truly deserved their Best Album accolade in the 2005 IOMAs. One thing that sets this track apart is the sheer inventiveness in the arrangement... they must have loved completing this track and I would have loved to have been in on the session... you find yourself in awe when you do a repeat play of this track and that's all that really needs to be said... I'll leave sensible additional judgements up to you.

Symphony in DeMeanor's 'the first one' is a very clever album and I cannot wait until 'the second one' has been either hand delivered to our door or until someone gives me the nod when Rob and Co are sleeping and I can sneak in through the bathroom window to steal a pre-release copy!

 

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