Music releases

Lost Art

Lost Art

By The Details

Released
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Producers
Brandon Reid and Stephen Carroll
Shawn Dealey
Parliament of Trees
Lost Art

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"Vulture Mechanics"

Lost Art

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"Weightless in the Dark"

Every band who plays SXSW hopes theyll end the week with a lucrative record deal, or at least the prospect of one. For Winnipeg foursome The Details, that almost happened. You know the evil manager in the movie the Runaways? asks Jon Plett, the bands singer and guitarist. We met him in an elevator, gave him a press kit and then he wouldnt stop calling.

That guy was none other than Kim Fowley, a legendary record producer and songwriter whos worked with The Runaways, Kiss, Alice Cooper and more. They didnt know who the towering, white-haired 60-something was at first, but Fowley, after listing to their first record Draw a Distance, Draw a Border knew exactly who the band was.

One day, as Plett was working on his farm (thats right, hes a farmer), he got a call. It was Fowley, he says. We talked for an hour, it was so surreal. The producer said he played the bands music for people in L.A. and there was a lot of interest. He wanted more tunes and to tried to fly the group out to California.

The band was at a crossroads do they go and potentially give up a piece of the band to the music industry machine? Or stay home and create a new record on their own terms. They chose the latter.

It turned out to be the right move, especially since the band found two equally adept producers in Brandon Reid, The Nationals engineer and right hand man, and Stephen Carroll, the guitarist of seminal Winnipeg indie act The Weakerthans.

Reid and Carroll dont produce just any act that comes their way. There are two reasons they spent 12 long days working and recording The Details: their huge potential and the fact that they're not afraid of hard work. A lot of bands write some songs in a few weeks then release a record, only to regret the final product. The Details took three years to write the songs on their sophomore effort, Lost Art, and spent a year perfecting them, throwing out songs that didnt work or redoing tunes that needed an extra push. Wed play a song a certain way for three months and then flip it on its head, says Sean Vidal, the groups other guitarist. It took us three years to refine the songs the way we wanted them.

That painstaking work was a good thing. It resulted in one of the most exciting records to come out of Winnipeg since The Weakerthans Left and Leaving. The combination of Reid and Carroll couldnt have been more appropriate Lost Art channels the same type of pull-at-the-heartstrings indie rock as The Weakerthans and The Nationals rich folk rock feel. But its also got punch. Vulture Mechanics kicks off with the loud slap of Shaun Gibsons snare, eventually launching into a soaring chorus backed by Keli Martins deep bass and Vidals bright fuzzy riffs.
But its Weightless in the Dark that really shows The Details depth. Lyrically, its on par with any John K. Samson tune, while the fluid, pop folk instrumentation makes this one of those tracks that you can play on a long road trip or after a night of too much drinking at the bar.

Each song has so many moving parts that you wont get tired of listening to the music multiple times. Yet, its simple enough that you can get it on the first try. And that was intentional. We were trying to stay away from hitting the audience over the head with dynamic changes like we did with the first record, says Sean. We stayed away from throwing 10 super distorted guitars in the mix.

While the band worked at getting these songs right, it was Reid, and his experience (and stories) with The National, who put the finishing touches on this already solid disc. He has such an intimate knowledge of indie rock, says Jon. He knew what we could and couldnt do. Plus, hes a hard worker this was a labour intensive process.

In the end, listeners get one of the most cohesive, focused and creative indie pop albums to come out this year. And, once Kim Fowley hears it, theres no doubt hell be on the next plane to Winnipeg.

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