Monday, 14 August 2006 03:57

Music fans can be so fickle. Your favorite band puts out a new record; if the record sounds just like the last record, you complain it's just more of the same. If the record is a dramatic departure from the norm, you complain that it's, well, too much of a departure from the norm.

Take the Stills, whose 2003 debut LP Logic Will Break Your Heart (Vice/Atlantic), found the Canadian band lumped into a New York rock scene filled with edgy guitars and shadowy vocals. The record combined tight guitars with cerebral vocals. Logic was critically acclaimed and reached No. 39 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart.

Fast forward to the here and now: The Stills have released a new album, Without Feathers. The follow up is a marked departure from its predecessor, replacing brooding sophistication with a lively enthusiasm of spry guitars, horns, even handclaps.

Additionally, the band made several personnel changes during the recording sessions; most notably, former drummer Dave Hamelin (the bands' primary songwriter) now plays guitar (taking over for departing guitarist Greg Paquet) and has assumed a majority of the vocals. Other changes include the addition of drummer Julien Blais and keyboardist Liam O'Neill to play alongside Hamelin and Tim Fletcher (guitarist/vocalist). Fletcher believes the time was right to make these changes.

"When we first got going as a band, things started happening so fast, and things just started rolling," said Fletcher "Because of that, any adjustments that needed to be made just couldn't naturally happen at the beginning.

"After touring for two years, and after the band being in this formation for three years, it really magnifies your needs and your wants. David (Hamelin) always wanted to be singing, he was already writing a majority of the songs. So it was natural that he wanted to express himself through his vocals."

All the changes were amicable, says Fletcher, and were a necessary step in the Stills' growth as a band, and as individual musicians and songwriters.

"We've embarked on this new direction; we're exploring other inspirations and influences," said Fletcher. "And the switch in dynamics really facilitated the creation of the music you hear on the new record.

"It's really a natural expression of us as songwriters, and the band as arranger. I think it might throw people for a loop sonically, [but] thematically, it's a record that we're very proud of. The shift in personnel and dynamic and sound-everything is something that had to happen together."

Aesthetically speaking, Without Feathers presents listeners with a seemingly sunny disposition on things. But lyrically, it explores many of the same shadowy themes for which the Stills have become known.

"The record is really a breakup record, the feeling of trying to find some kind of calm and navigate your way through relationships. For that reason, I think it's a bit darker lyrically than Logic," said Fletcher. "The reason that it sounds more jubilant in terms of aesthetic was because we needed to make a record that would at least sound hopeful and lift our spirits."

Because of the departure in sound, some fans have taken a few listens before warming up to Without Feathers. But like entering a swimming pool and getting that first jolt of cool water, it only takes time before you're comfortable.

"We expected that people would be weary of the record at first, and that there might be criticism," said Fletcher. "But we've found that a lot of people maybe don't like it at first listen, but are open-minded and find they are into and enjoy it as much as the first record.

"Touring with this record has been great; the response we're getting has really been positive.