Helen Kuan & Jack Jamieson. Joined on Sirens by Jesse Paul, Neil Rankin, Ben Bowser, Dave Clarke and Andre Lowey.
Sounds Like
Stars, Nada Surf, Sondre Lerche, Shiina Ringo, The Tokyo Incidents, and Rilo Kiley all mixed up in a blender that we borrowed from our Cole Porter loving neighbour who has somehow magically infused his musical preferences into his blender.
Order Sirens:
CDs are $10 + $2.50 for shipping. Prices in Canadian dollars.
Karma Controllers channel a wide breadth of influences into a cohesive blend of indie-
rock and jazz. Their new album, Sirens, is the result of carefully crafting those influences into a focused whole. Ambitious, but never self-important, Karma Controllers have created a unique album that stands out from the crowded Canadian
indie-music scene.
With Sirens, Karma Controllers draw upon their contemporaries like Stars and Nada Surf. Helen Kuan's vocals are reminiscent of Jenny Lewis, Jack Jamieson attributes Sondre Lerche as an inspiration to his guitar playing, and Jesse Paul's drums owe as much to big-band jazz as they do to modern rock styles. Those influences are combined with a love of classic composers like Cole Porter as well as modern Japanese jazz bands such as Soil & "Pimp" Sessions.
Sirens is an eclectic album that features lush instrumentation including guitars, glockenspiel, mandolin, accordion, horns, flute, keyboards, drums and string sections. Each song is different and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The band describes their production method:
"We don't limit ourselves on record to what is possible to perform live, we use a lot of
instruments and certainly have a lot more going on at once than we could do without
overdubbing. That being said, we make sure our songs sound great in both settings – our
songs need to work live, when we're more limited with our instrumentation, and the most
important thing is to have a solid foundation of melody and song-writing.”
The Longest Year opens the record with folky mandolin and becomes a rich sounding rock song. Whisper Sister features back and forth male-female vocals and a wailing horn section. Searchlights 2 begins as a silky jazz tale of longing for an ex-lover and evolves into a spy-themed, orchestra accompanied climax. Throughout the album, lyrics express the difficulties of travel, ambition, and abandoned loved ones, with each song revealing different facets of these themes.
Sirens is a confident album by Karma Controllers and demonstrates that they are not afraid of forging their own musical identity.
That was a great set at Blue Moon. Romping indie-pop gems, sparkling vocals, and a shimmering sound that radiates like lovefest serenades. Jazzlike overtones and piercing energy of the highest order, where the moon turned to musical daylight.
Hope the CD release went well. Also liked the review in this issue of Metro 'The Toronto duo of Helen Kuan and Jack Jamieson lace their brand of bubbly folksy indie-pop with a not-so-subtle dose of jazzy pep'
That was a great set at The Drake, breezy vocals with engaging pop-hooks, a sound where both the singer-songwriter and the freedom to create catchy indie-gems shine. Outstanding.
Hello Karma Controllers! Thank you for adding us!! Anyway we released our debut album in Japan,and we will release from Mush records on 4th Dec in U.S.A !Check it out!
Hello Karma Controllers! Thank you for adding us!! Anyway we released our debut album in Japan,and we will release from Mush records on 4th Dec in U.S.A !Check it out!
