Halcyon Phase hails from Ottawa, Canada, but based on the messages in the haunting and simmering “Emergency,” you could swear vocalist and lyricist Frank Smith had lived in the United States the past four-and-a-half years: We elect/Who we deserve/But do we deserve/This?/Another alt-right/Leader who doesn’t/Give a shit/Stamp out/The demon/Remove the/Curse/We must survive it/It will only get worse.
Tendrils, the debut album from this two-man collaboration featuring Smith (of Sills & Smith fame) and multi-instrumentalist/producer-engineer Phillip Victor Bova, features the work of nearly a dozen session musicians and singers. The record “was recorded slowly and safely by Phil during the global pandemic, under seemingly impossible conditions and against all odds,” according to the liner notes. “These songs -- written pre-COVID, largely about the trials and tribulations of relationships and various human crises -- carry more weight as we listen to the finished album in context.”
Indeed, Tendrils can be a heavy listen, especially if you allow yourself to absorb the lyrics to such gently melodic songs as “Giving Is Always Much Harder” and “An Awful Refrain.”
Bova has referred to Halcyon Phase’s sound as “a cool bit of indie baroque folk/rock psychedelia.” But I also hear echoes of Warren Zevon (thanks to Smith’s distinct, deep and weary voice), Dire Straits (guitarist John Fraser Findlay channels Mark Knopfler on “Death On a Platter”) and even the Alan Parsons Project (just listen to the mellow “Time” -- and, no, it’s not a cover from The Turn of a Friendly Card). Smith goes so far as to reference Zevon in the lyrics to the album’s most Zevon-ish track, “More Than Life Itself”: Alcohol/Cocaine speedballs/In the centre/Of the shopping mall/Find a new religion/Listen to Warren Zevon.
If you’re a fan of Sills & Smith’s work, you’ll appreciate Halcyon Phase. And even if you’re not familiar with that duo, Tendrils may still fill a void in your music listening life, serving as both an aural salve and a sonic warning as we head into what increasingly feels like it will be a dark and endless autumn.
Bonus: The album is wrapped with a magnificently intimate photo revealing the secret life of plants.
Track Listing:
1. Emergency
2. From Straight Lines
3. Disquiet
4. Giving Is Always Much Harder
5. The Rain
6. Death On a Platter
7. Time
8. The Wilderness
9. More Than Life Itself
10. Evening Song
11. Georgian Bay Cottage
12. An Awful Refrain
13. Constant Turmoil
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