It is, eh, 'ow do you say...

Désormais - Hell'N Ohio

Hey gang, sorry I was gone for a minute there - I had some stuff to take care of out of town, and I didn't have (gasp) an internet connection where I was staying. I had all these songs ready to go too, with album art, little bits about them written up and everything. Ah well, here it is, a couple of days late:

Broken beats, lilting keys, strings, guitar noise and shuddering waves of sound - this is Désormais, a French adverb for "from now on." The band started as a long distance collaboration between Mitchell Akiyama (based in Montreal) and Joshua Treble (based in Cincinnati), and has resulted in three full length albums, all released by the Montreal label intr_version. Their first two, from 2002 and 2003, received a fair amount of critical attention, but their new one, Dead Letters To Lost Friends, should get even more. It is amazing.

Really amazing.

The album itself is packaged in a beautiful sewn-together cover, with gorgeous spot inks and other stuff... I love it that in this day and age of digital this and downloadable that, some bands and labels still give time and attention to album-art and packaging details.

Anyway, the feel of the album is consistently good throughout, with songs that grow and build into these pretty explosions of sound, or crumble and fall apart. The songs features contributions from some of their friends: drummer Eric Craven (from Hanged Up), Spencer Yeh (from Burning Star Core), and Jenna Robertson (from Avia Gardner) among others. I'd also recommend checking out their label itself, as intr_version seems to be the place for an interesting bunch of experimental pop bands, modern folk music, and a decidedly Canadian take on indie rock.

If you're feeling this, which something tells me you will (especially with Markie's recent instrumental post), you can buy Dead Letters To Lost Friends direct from the label (and they ship all over the world), or from our pals at Forced Exposure.