Dennis L., Everett L., Steve L., Silas L. and some guy named Tom Murray
Influences
Both Country and Western. Carl Stalling, Henri Emile-Benoit Matisse, Ernie "Dressup" Coombs, the Clash, Tom Waits, Hollywood-era Elvis, His Holiness the Daniel Lanois, Joe Henry, Neil Young, Otis Redding, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Kenneth Patchen moreso than Kerouac, Sweet Gene Vincent especially but also Johnny Burnette, early and much, much later Gordon Lightfoot, Sam "the man" Taylor, Chollie Mingus, Monk, J.S. and the Mescaleros (R.I.P.), Edwyn Collins and Orange Juice, Los Lobos and Latin Playboys, Matt Matt Johnson Johnson, Willie Dixon, Johnny Cash, The voice that is George Jones, T-Bone Burnett, T-Bone Walker, and all dem T-Bones, All the Hanks too. Jimmy Reed, Lou Reed, Son House, Maya Angelou, Rumi, Sly and Robbie, King Tubby, the Buzzcocks and the Replacements. Good Strong coffee, Bourbon, Tanquerey, Cuban Rum, Most Russian vodka, Dirty Tequila and certain other unmentionables
Sounds Like
Defying both the convention of gravity and the gravity of convention.
Manraygun’s music is about striking contrasts. Mood swings, from the lowest low and quietest quiet to the canyon resonance of reverberating drums and tube-crunched guitar. One moment the vocals are whispering lovelorn apologies in your ear, the next yelling unapologetically across the table at you. The words, too, whether sweet and gentle or cutting and scabrous, are always truthful.
Yes, the band is fascinated with American roots music, but as stalwart Canadians, it’s roots music sent through the filter of “home” that defines Manraygun. As the Edmonton Journal’s Peter North puts it, “The band doesn’t so much walk the tightrope between roots rock and alt country but swing from it, never letting the listener know where they’ll land from one tune to another.”
Originally formed in 2005 as a trio comprising Everett LaRoi as well as brothers Dennis and Steve Lenarduzzi, the first year centered around songwriting sessions, sonic explorations and open stage shows. It was with the addition of Tom Murray, ex of Old Reliable and Pal Joey, and Silas Grenis of punk legends the James T. Kirks to the backline that the band solidified a Manraygun ‘sound.’ They’ve followed their instincts ever since.
A prolific succession of releases has been the band’s story of late. From TwilightSpeak - issued late 2007 - to this past summer’s release of Misfortune Telling, the quintet has spent a lot of time in the basement getting their stories straight. If TwilightSpeak was a mid-summer dalliance captured over three days of recording, then Misfortune Telling was a schismatic “Best of” culling from dog-eared notebooks held close to the heart.
Those two recordings have really started something —rave reviews and considerable airplay on college radio across Canada, plus public broadcasters, CKUA and CBC.
“Misfortune Telling” charted twice on CJSR - reaching number 1 last fall - and stayed in the top 30 on CKUA for most of the summer, proving the band’s broad audience appeal.
The new recording promises confidence and craft. You can expect pin-drop acoustic guitar confessions as well as amps that go to eleven. Never afraid to wear their musical references on their sleeves, you’ll here the band rifle through Morricone-inspired cinematics to Tamla-esque closed hi-hat rhythms… you’ll hear the bowing of bass and the loose growl of a lower-east-side guitar… often all in the same tune. There are instrumentals such as “Operazione Fritz” that are passports to the exotic with layers that borrow from dub and electronica mashed with the pastoral local flavour of “Acme to Irricana”, “Goodman Brown” and “Trouble Coming Down”.
Despite this, it’s not at all schizophrenic or chaotic; in fact, the new recordings are carefully glued together by the notion of “folk” in the largest sense of the genre —old and new.
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