Timber Timbre - Creep On Creepin' On

An earlier version of this article was previously published in The Omega.

4/5 stars
Timber Timbre’s new album, Creep On Creepin’ On, is dreary, creepy, weird and for the most part, brilliant. Considering the title, that’s probably to be expected.

     After the success of their 2009 self-titled album—which made the long-list for the Polaris Prize—Timber Timbre build upon the sound of their previous album while simultaneously moving away from their folk roots.  Timber Timbre is a trio made up of Taylor Kirk, Mika Posen and Simon Trottier. They’re sometimes based out of Toronto and other times out of Montreal.  For their current album they have also enlisted the services of pianist Mathieu Charbonneau and saxophonist Colin Stetson.

     The array of musical instruments that these five are able to employ is at times astounding, but the songs never become crowded or convoluted. In fact, Timber Timbre’s music often sounds deceptively simple, giving Kirk’s vocals the centre stage.  The closest description of the music I can give is that of folk-blues infused with noir and chamber pop.  The difficulty in explaining Timber Timbre’s musical style is unsurprising considering that Kirk has said that “the idea was to make music we love and therefore embrace the risk of sounding like all the music we’ve ever loved, all at once.”

     Kirk’s vocal style hovers somewhere between Leonard Cohen’s sing-speak poetics and Nick Cave’s croon. His voice never seems to betray his emotional state and almost sounds disinterested. This is hardly a negative, as songs often unexpectedly switch from love songs to murder ballads and Kirk sounds like he barely notices the difference.  The effect can be quite chilling.

     Highlights include “Black Water”, in which Kirk sings “all I need is some sunshine” without a trace of irony in his voice. The verses are particularly hushed as he describes dead fish floating down rivers, as if he is sharing an important secret with us.  The excellent “Too Old to Die Young” has Kirk channeling his best Nick Cave bad boy croon and the song often sounds like a straightforward British rock song. That’s until the chorus kicks in and Kirk tauntingly sings “I’m givin’ it, givin’ it all up,” over scraping strings. As if that wasn’t weird enough, a gospel chorus kicks in after the second chorus.

     I definitely recommend Creep On Creepin’ On to the musically adventurous. It takes the sounds of chamber pop and noir and exploits them for all their strangest elements.  The album doesn’t seem to be crushed under the weight of its influences either, in the way that Destroyer’s schmaltzy-sounding Kaputt was earlier this year.  Timber Timbre is an exciting band to follow as they continually build on their previous sounds without being repetitive or discarding past elements.

Their original sound and relative success is a testament to the diversity and robustness of the current Canadian indie scene.