Unclosing (2007)
1. Hymn for the Twenty-First Century
2. It Will All Come Right (download)
3. Sparkle Street
4. Unclosing!
5. Half a Day Past Noon
6. A Happy Song Gone Wrong
7. 1923
8. Hangman (download)
9. The Devil's On Horseback
10. Orange Bus (download)
11. One for Two
'Unclosing' features eleven songs adorned with much instrumentation and playful, intricate arrangements. You'll be a believing witness to trumpet hits, piano solos, delightful girl vocals, brass quartets, an old rickety banjo, rock and roll guitars, more than one cymbal swell, claves, cute little tinkly bells, my grandma's organ, singing friends, handclaps, raindrops, and thunder. A willing listener will be transported by the songs to places near and far; one moment you're riding a train to meet your lover in a faraway place; the next, you find yourself outside your favourite watering hole staring at the remnants of a broken bottle on the street, wondering, thinking, pondering, considering, contemplating; suddenly, you're on a tastefully coloured Winnipeg city bus in standstill rush-hour traffic, your moist back sticking to the vinyl seats due to overwhelming humidity, exhaust climbing through the windows and down into your lungs, choking you as you head downtown. Throughout these scenes and descriptions sweet melodies float whimsically but with great purpose like a gentle breeze flowing through your bedhead on the day you slept in and were late, giving you that perfect excuse, or maybe like a dead leaf you see being carried down a quiet brook in autumn, its funeral procession to the great unknown, a display that might have caused you to awe at the beauty and fragility of life but instead finds you saying to yourself with great relief and minimal subtlety, "Boy, I'm sure glad I'm not dead!", or worse yet, you pass through the moment without having thought anything at all.
Balancing a homegrown-epic sound with intimate melodies and playful, carefully chosen words, "Unclosing" proves itself an enjoyable and cohesive collection of well-written songs that just might make you laugh, cry, remember, romanticize, contemplate, jump for joy, dance on your car, say hello to a stranger, stare into outer space, and pump your fists in the air while yelling "yessssssss!".
P© 2007 Brock Tyler
All songs by Brock Tyler © 2007 Hopeful Heartful Music (SOCAN)
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