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woodpigeon
Indie / Alternative / Pop

"ripping pages from the songbook."

calgary, alberta
Canada

Profile Views:  79386




Last Login:  7/6/2008
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   Contacting woodpigeon

 MySpace URL: 
  http://www.myspace.com/woodpigeon  

   woodpigeon: General Info
Member Since10/12/2005
Band Websitewoodpigeon-songbook.com
Band Membersmark hamilton (guitars, singings, glockenspiels, shakings, witticisms)
kenna burima (pianos, singings, drunken confessions)
michael gratton (basses, punk t-shirts, big hair)
annalea sordi (accordions, flutes, singings, shakings, charmings)
daren powell (drums, shakings, wisdom & hats)
peter moersch (old echo-y electric guitar, singings, attitudes)
foon yap (crown princess of the stringed instruments + eyeshadow)
aj benoit (the most beautiful singings we've ever heard)

there are others, oh yes.

chris neville (trumpet, hornages, singings)
jane vain (singings, producings, la-la-la'ings)
aaron booth (singings, producings, supportive smilings)
sandro perri (lap steel, long-distance romancings)
joe kelly (visuals, light suits, inter-band marriages)
shawna kelly (flutes, crossed-armed laughings)
ching li (singings, shakings, dancings, erhu, miscellaneousness)
jason moore (singings, ideas, muscles to lift things)
jay stanley (horns, sharp haircuts)
megan mitchell (saxophones, brass, loud charm)
brooker buckingham (tsunami guitars, banjos, mandolin)
arran fisher (producer-man, e-bow, creased brow)
karmella perez (dead hot merch girl, knitter friend)
plus pre-requisite special guests.

kenna + daren also keep busy in the brenda vaqueros. this makes them members of both calgary's loudest and quietest bands.

aj's ladybird is stunning – jazz standards done pretty as you like.

arran fisher is most commonly recognized as that dude with the double-neck guitar from summerlad. we're still trying to find ourselves a double-neck mandolin/banjo to do some s-lad covers, but the search is proving itself hard-going. he's also one of the best producers going. hands-down. check out his studio acoustikitty, and then make a record with him.

joe kelly is one of our favourite artists. also: mark's favourite film is by him, a series of burning doll heads thrown at the ground set to death metal.

bryce from vitaminsforyou is one of our best musical friends. he's done a couple of top remixes for us, so we'll soon be filling dancefloors quicker'n you can say "vitaminsforyou".

make sure you get aquainted with sandro's music too. polmo polpo and glissandro70 are absolutely amazing.

and lest we forget, our friends remote-kid. we've split a 7" with them, on which we wrote a tune and they responded to it on the flipside. it's awesome. (now buy one. there's only 200...).

woodpigeon releases records on the end of the road records in the uk and europe

and Lirico / Inpartmaint Inc. in japan.

Influencesa veritable alphabet of things:

a. animals
b. birds
c. comfy couches
d. desert plains
e. educated guesses
f. flying fish
g. golly gee
h. highrises
i. islands
j. jack-in-the-boxes
k. 'killing moon'
l. love (and the lack thereof)
m. mark like cake
n. new haircuts
o. original paperback editions
p. philosophers with hard to pronounce names
q. quiet things
r. (pre-)requisite guests
s. snowfall
t. tickling of ivories
u. undergarments and those they fit quite nicely on
v. velvet undergarments and those they fit quite nicely on
w. white paper
x. xylophones (although we only have a glockenspiel)
y. yemen sounds nice this time of year
z. zzzzzzz... oh, to sleep.

Sounds Likewater falling on hot rocks

snow falling on dead trees

pianos rusting in country fields

madonna 45's played at 1/2 speed

oh. and the sound samples most likely playing on your computer right now. like that.

Record Labelcontact: woodpigeonantelopesquirrel@gmail.com
Type of LabelIndie





   Upcoming Shows ( view all )
Jun 30 2008 8:00P
AMIGO’S w/ Rock Plaza Central & Sunparlour Players Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Jul 1 2008 8:00P
LO PUB w/ Rock Plaza Central & Sunparlour Players Winnipeg, Manitoba
Jul 3 2008 8:00P
SPREEPARK w/ Forest City Lovers @ THE MARQUEE ROOM Calgary, Alberta
Jul 4 2008 8:00P
SPREEPARK w/ Forest City Lovers @ CAMPUS SAINT-JEAN AUDITORIUM Edmonton, Alberta
Jul 6 2008 8:00P
THE MOD CLUB w/ CALEXICO Toronto, Ontario
Jul 7 2008 8:00P
LE NATIONAL w/ CALEXICO Montreal, Quebec
Jul 26 2008 8:00P
CALGARY FOLK FEST @ Prince’s Island Park w/ Great Lake Swimmers, Josh Ritter, & More! Calgary, Alberta
Jul 27 2008 8:00P
CALGARY FOLK FEST @ Prince’s Island Park w/ The Be-Good Tanyas & More! Calgary, Alberta
Aug 8 2008 8:00P
REGINA FOLK FESTIVAL w/ Final Fantasy & More! Regina, Saskatchewan
Aug 9 2008 8:00P
REGINA FOLK FESTIVAL w/ The Weakerthans & More! Regina, Saskatchewan
Aug 10 2008 8:00P
REGINA FOLK FESTIVAL w/ Old Man Luedecke @ More! Regina, Saskatchewan
Aug 30 2008 8:00P
Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir CD Release Show @ THE GATEWAY Calgary, Alberta
Sep 10 2008 8:00P
TRIPOD w/ CALEXICO Dublin, Dublin
Sep 11 2008 8:00P
QUEEN’S HALL w/ CALEXICO Edinburgh, Scotland
Sep 12 2008 8:00P
ACADEMY w/ CALEXICO Oxford
Sep 13 2008 8:00P
LEADMILL w/ CALEXICO Sheffield
Sep 14 2008 8:00P
THE END OF THE ROAD FESTIVAL 2008 w/ Sun Kil Moon, Low, & More! Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset, Southwest

woodpigeon's Latest Blog Entry  [Subscribe to this Blog]

glasgow review.  (view more)

WP on FB  (view more)

’that was good but you can do better’ - single review!  (view more)

that was good but you can do better - single released 28 april 2008!  (view more)

we will rock you (cbc.ca)  (view more)

[View All Blog Entries]

   About woodpigeon


Woodpigeon makes otherworldly almost-orchestral pop
By Mary Christa O’Keefe

Woodpigeon is more than just the most beautiful word in the English language, although that’s precisely why it was chosen by songwriter Mark Hamilton as the moniker for his pretty-pretty-pop project. Encompassing a kind of ersatz collective orchestra, dispersed across a couple continents, rising and falling in number with the demands of song life and real life, Woodpigeon creates music much the same way a bowerbird crafts a lovenest: the right space is chosen and the bower goes up twig by twig, berry by berry, embellishing a basic construction that’s already sound and lovely.

Occasionally, when all goes well, a mate is attracted.

Woodpigeon's preferred habitat is slightly spooky places (friendly ghosts only) with natural reverb, with nearby vintage mellotrons and echoing stairwells, and perhaps a gaggle of singing children when feeling maudlin. They rock out on harpsichords and wrench tears out of guitars before playing them damp. Bells, whistles, handclaps – all the aural tchotchkes are enlisted to serve the song, wherever they can brighten a melody or limn a mournful line. Girlish voices become instruments, while Mark's lonely choirboy vocals – somehow, impossibly, lodged in a lumberjack-ish bear of a man – sound uncannily like they’re being sung directly into your ear. You can almost feel his warm minty breath.

Mark mostly sings about the Unbearable Mark-ness of Being: secret love ninjas, imaginary segregated private schools, stolen kisses, confounded passion, windy days and city streets, thoughtful walking, the kind of longing that is wonderful, and the kind of longing that is sorrowful. He pushes aside the fabric of reality to create a fantastic musical realm where truth is found in fiction, and fiction is found in song.

Long live music. Long live Woodpigeon.

FOR REALSIES Every last word is true. Some bare facts: founded in the autumn of 2005 by crazily prolific lapsed filmmaker Mark Hamilton. Recordings so far: 1 rock opera about pirates, 3 full-lengths recorded, 1 full-length released, 4 EPs recorded, 2 EPs released. Sharings of the music: countless live shows, 1 appearance each at NXNE, SXSW, End of the Road, and Sled Island (which Mark also curated).

SECRET WEAPONS Cordiality, evasion, argyle, fanciful thoughts, deadly metaphor-to-metaphor judo.

PHILOSOPHY Everything starts off as a rock opera.

OTHER PHILOSOPHY Girl voices are instruments. Boy voices are sex objects.

FILE UNDER Deliciously wistful analog pop; a-few-strings-short-of-orchestral pop; folk's pretty little sister who skipped a few grades and makes out with rock at parties, the sound of twinkling stars and moonbeams.

ADD TO A PLAYLIST WITH The holy trinity of 'Cameras' (Hidden Cameras, Aztec Camera, Camera Obscura), Beirut, Vashti Bunyan, The Decemberists, Donovan, Grizzly Bear, early Belle & Sebastian, The Acorn, Echo & The Bunnymen.

--

and now: 10 things you should know.

1. hey! hey you! take a listen to woodpigeon performing live, and then keep your eyes peeled for when we're in your part of the world:

CBC Radio 3 In-Session, recorded live at The Hive in Vancouver.

CBC Radio 2 Combo To Go, recorded live at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary, alongside our friends the Voicescapes vocal ensemble.

CBC Radio 1 Fuse in collaboration with Jay Crocker.

2. FREE!- EP! Written in Paris, Berlin and Edinburgh, Houndstooth is a sweet, minimalist, short-player from Woodpigeon that we think you are going to love. It was recorded with Jane Vain* and she lends her voice to a few tracks too!

Here it is:

01. in praise of the west midlothian bus service
02. oberkampf
03. potsdamer platz (stomp, stomp, stomp)
04. ladybug ladybird (home demo)
05. the return bus ride home
06. thoughts on the one who got away by the one he left behind

* track 4 recorded by mark at home / track 6 recorded by aaron booth, who also sings.

and here's a grand review of it from FFWD magazine:

Moving away from blissed-out orchestral pop to quiet and refined folk, Woodpigeon raises the stakes on Houndstooth. The six-song EP is a departure for the band – moving from big and complex to small and more intimate. The first two tracks in particular ("In Praise of the West Midlothian Bus Service" and "Oberkampf"), showcase strong, deliberate vocals and effective harmonies and meld hymnal-like swells to create these modern lullabies. Recorded beautifully by another local favourite, Jane Vain, the band has never sounded more crystalline or precise. Track six, recorded by Aaron Booth, emphasizes the band’s confidence in the new material and showcases the lyrics and intricate acoustics – allowing the song to build and retreat effortlessly. By shedding the bells and whistles (literally), Woodpigeon allows the listener to hear its growth in every plucked string. By keeping things simple and stripping down its sound, the band has managed to show on Houndstooth that big things really do come in small packages. 4/5 -- KIRSTEN KOSLOSKI

3. and then: SONGBOOK, our debut album, is out now! drop us a line and we'll hook you up, or visit lirico if you're in japan. it's coming out (with a bonus cd!) in the uk and europe via end of the road records later this year too! click the links to go straight to their respective sites, or order it through your local record dealers. alternately, we're also hip with the Woodpigeon - Songbook

4. here's a nice review of the album from NOW MAGAZINE out of toronto:

WOODPIGEON
Songbook
NNNN - CRITIC'S PICK

Like Calgary's answer to Sufjan Stevens and his travelling symphonic circus, prairie collective Woodpigeon have a penchant for long-winded song titles (Home As A Romanticized Concept Where Everyone Loves You Always And Forever) and jingly, ramshackle chamber-folk concoctions driven by banjo, glockenspiel, a sprawling choir and quivering male vocals. Though there are sonic similarities, the writing on Songbook suggests repressed longing and romantic fantasies rather than Stevens's hyper-detailed short story narratives, but Mark Hamilton's delightfully whimsical metaphors and imagery (a love song about ninjas! Superheroes sacrificing good deeds for love!) work perfectly in tandem with Woodpigeon's shimmery songs. And though the music works well in watercolour shades, when the loose-knit ensemble puts some muscle into rocking out, as on the driving Jonathan Ashworth Rollercoaster, they make a strong case for why Woodpigeon might be the next great Canadian breakout band. -- SARAH LISS

and another from THE EDMONTON JOURNAL:

woodpigeon, led by Calgary musician/journalist Mark Hamilton, creates lush, romantic music that combines bright, delicious pop with gorgeous echoey harmonies and oddball orchestrations including some lovely guitar, banjo, shambling drums, a glockenspiel, piano, melodica and horns. But, it's not nearly as unbearablly twee as you might imagine. Comparisons with Belle and Sebastian are fair, but with less Little Lord Fauntelroy and more of W.O Mitchell's dark innocence. With tracks like 'home as a romanticized concept were everyone loves you always and forever', and 'a sad country ballad for a tired superhero', it's like you're listening to a prarie city's inner monologues. 4/5 -- MARY SASANO

aw. shucks...

5. this spring, for our lucky friends in the uk and europe, the end of the road records shall be re-releasing Songbook this spring with the first installment in our series of odds-'n-sodds eps, Treasury Library 1: Dewey Does It:

01. in the battle of sun vs. curtains, sun loses and we sleep until noon
02. i live a lot of places
03. 7th fret over andres
04. a moment's peace for mary christa o'keefe
05. anna, girl in the clocktower
06. bad news brown

6. Songbook UK shall also be accompanied by a limited edition 7" single, featuring our mates the neighbourhood council helping us out on the b-side:

A. that was good but you can do better
B. knock knock

7. here's a video from our cd release show at the engineered air theatre in calgary on 28 october 2006 (visuals by our friend joe kelly). the song's called my denial in argyle.:


and look! another one live from cityTv, from 31 december 2007 (that's our producer arran fisher on the clarinet). this song's called spire-house.:

8. finally, cameron chapman of the haritoshan film ministry has been making a documentary on us since the very beginning – during the recording of our album SONGBOOK, live shows and events, and even capturing the entire 2007 mini-tour of the UK on camera. here's an early glimpse of it - a live performance of 'songbook' the song...

9. we're also all about the side projects. if you like what you're hearing, you might also like SPREEPARK, PIGEONBOOTH, and/or THE BRENDA VAQUEROS. we sure do and it's kind of like an inner-band race to see who can make the most albums.

10. i think that's about it, really.


   woodpigeon's Friend Space (Top 24)
woodpigeon has 2158 friends.
 spreepark 


 Pigeonbooth 


 The Neighbourhood Council 


 Aaron Booth 


 The Consonant C 


 Jane Vain & the Dark Matter! 


 eagleowl 


 Kris Ellestad 


 The Brenda Vaqueros 


 vitaminsforyou - ビタミンズフォーユー 


 AZEDA BOOTH 


 KNOTS 


 Ainsley 


 Sarah 


 mark 


 Lizbot 


 Jody 


 ALEKSI 


 Chuck 


 V.P.™ 


 motorjoan 


 Matthew [S4C/F.S.] 


 Broken City 


 _garrry 





woodpigeon's Friends Comments
Displaying 50 of 259 comments  ( View All | Add Comment )
laura leif, or the unbundling





Jul 3 2008 3:40 PM

best road trip ever!!!
a relative distance





Jun 25 2008 6:33 PM

hey! i think some of us have met randomly....and of course any friends of the con c are my friends forever too :)
Turntable Films





Jun 23 2008 9:02 PM

Hello from jp
Thx for the add!!
Great job! you're awesome!
peace
Over The Wall





Jun 16 2008 2:51 AM

as we are you, i have it on good authority that you were excellent last year.

take care til then,

Gav
Otw
X
Gossamer Albatross





Jun 16 2008 4:01 AM

hey guys. we're so stoked to be on the end of the road bill. it's a teensy bit mental!
and yeah we'll do a cd swap at the festvial. can't wait to see you guys again!
x
The Gentle Good





Jun 14 2008 3:59 PM

Thanks!! I'll definitely be coming along to catch your set, see you at the festival!
Bark Cat Bark





Jun 14 2008 4:00 AM

Wow!
Loving every song iv heard,
Thanks.
Josh x
flooze





Jun 14 2008 4:01 AM

thanking you for the add

beautiful songs

looking forward to seeing you at the end of the road

x
Gossamer Albatross





Jun 14 2008 4:25 AM

oooh we'll do a trade at end of the road. we'll come and find you.
and yeah end of the road is so so awesome. it's a bit nuts us playing seeing as how we've barely played 20 shows together. so fantastic though. can't wait to see you guys again. I told my lot how great you are. and you can see all 4 of us!
x
seabear





Jun 13 2008 3:15 PM

i like it i like it
human cycle(New Record-Novo Disco)





May 30 2008 1:32 PM

HI, THANK YOU FOR THE AD, BEST REGARDS FROM PORTUGAL!

www. humancycle. net
eagleowl





May 27 2008 11:46 AM

Queens Hall! On Benzie's birthday!

Woah.
Kris Ellestad





May 21 2008 11:05 AM

If only you folks were coming back sooner.. I'd love to play some songs with y'all. Hope the (b)land of stodge is treating you very well.
Logic To Madness





May 16 2008 10:53 AM

Hey guys, glad to see you doing so well for a local act. My reason for the email is I work with Blair Schacterle, Kenna's cousin, and was just wondering if there is a possibility for an interview with you guys when you're in town on the 27th of June? I am working at getting more attention to the Calgary scene of which you are all a part of. I hope to hear from you soon.
Drew of Drew's Reviews / Logic to Madness
5...4...3...2...fun!!





May 8 2008 4:41 PM

you are really great!
Greg Lamarche





Apr 27 2008 6:06 PM

Thanks for adding me!

All the best,
Greg
Kris Ellestad





Apr 19 2008 11:44 AM

That was real sweet of you folks.
In Violet Light





Apr 17 2008 2:58 PM

Heya woodpigeon, Thanks for your friendship and great tunes. Best wishes from Holland.
WITHERED HAND





Apr 14 2008 3:28 PM

no spam, im afraid. im working on that.

just a gentle prod.

mark send me yr postal address, goddamit.. i have an ep for you.

can't wait to hear yr masterpiece.

dan
x
Mason Hastie