Best Albums Re-Post: Brian Borcherdt's 'Coyotes'

This is a re-posting because it is such a great album that I simply have to. A side note to the original post is that I did in fact go to the show I mention below and it was fantastic and had Brian sign my vinyl copy of the album! Please enjoy the experience of this album at some point in your life, it is a Slowcoustic all time best album. Original post from October 2008 and the album ended up being my #1 pick for best/favourite album of 2008…obviously.

So I don’t know why I have been waiting on this release for this long. I have been telling everyone I can about how much I love the new album from Brian Borcherdt. I tell you people, this album is probably my #1 album this year (go ahead start judging me!) – but I don’t care – I said it. Best of 2008??

So Coyotes…released October 7th, and has been almost overplayed around the Slowcoustic Headquarters. This album is bleak, intimate, stark. Yes all those classic blogger descriptions of the “unhurried” sound – but it is true. I don’t think that I have all the correct words as sometimes you have a hard time describing music that you just immediately love. Don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of music (hey, I am a music blogger), but you know some music that you love immediately will soon be the next week’s forgotten songs. This is not the case with “Coyotes” – it is quiet and oddly charismatic with Borcherdt’s whispering and at times cracking vocals making this a soon to be classic in my books.

Some of you may be familiar with Borcherdt’s work with his day job with Holy Fuck (let us not get the two confused though) – which is astonishing to me. While I can enjoy a HF track, Borcherdt’s performance is light (or dark in this case) years away from his group efforts. The story behind this album is while on a break from Holy Fuck – Brian recorded these songs in a friend’s living room and basically left them as is – just Brian and a guitar (maybe a bit of echo and background harmony added afterwords). While this style of indie/lo-fi recording is becoming increasingly popular, it doesn’t always work as well as it does here. While keeping it “real” with the recording of this album, it is still crisp, professionally packaged and even sounds like you were sitting right there in the two seater love-seat during the process. This is why this approach works with “Coyotes” – just the right amount of lo-fi, but still remarkably well finished with what little they had to do in the studio. I have yet to see Brian Borcherdt live – but plan on seeing him here in Calgary on Nov. 30th as he swings through on tour with Martha Wainwright.

So, class, what album do I currently recommend purchasing? Buuuuut, seriously, listen to the two tracks below and pick up a copy either at Brian Borcherdt’s MySpace Page or get the full track-list and a link to purchase on iTunes – More On This Album.

Coyotes Brian Borcherdt
“While I Was Asleep” (mp3)
“The Drugs” (mp3)
from “Coyotes”
(Hand Drawn Dracula)