tonstartssbandht is from Montreal, and was first introduced to me by the Friendship Bracelet Club Vol. 2 compilation where the demo version of “Black Country” appeared.  Friendship Bracelet has been curating amazing compilations (go here and check out the side bar to download/buy), and if you haven’t looked at Friendship Bracelet in a while make sure to check out their rad new header for the blog… I’m so ready for baseball season…Go Pirates.

The demo version of tonstartssbandht’s “Black Country” made me track down a copy of their full length from last year titled An When, and the album version of that song  is even more powerful than the demo.  An When was released by Does Are Records last year.

“Black Country” is a unique track that uses extremely heavy booming drums and percussion to create the beat and tone of the song, but musically it lies in a grey area between heavy psych and extremely dark folk.  There is a underlying repetitive melody that makes such a heavy track sound some what light. The melody has a tone of hope, and it adds a an additional element of mystery and wonder.  This song started off as just something that caught my ear, but has quickly become an obsession.  The vocals are haunting, and at this point I just wish I knew what the fuck he was saying…repetitive listening hasn’t really helped me decipher the the lyrics, but has just made hit repeat as soon as it ends.

Listening to “Black Country” while walking home from the train yesterday evening was a great experience…the sun going down but the last glimmer of light was reflecting off the snow, and it brought me to the cold dark place that this song brings me too, but in both cases the melody and and glow let me know everything was ok.

[mp3] tonstartssbandht- “Black Country”

• buy An When here.

“Black Country” isn’t the only song on An When that has this tone, but tonstartssbandht has one of the most eclectic sounds that I have heard in a very long time.  You can’t lump them into a category, and you should expect to hear more about them on the Great Pumpkin.  I’m sure this is not the last post, and I can’t wait til the Midnight Cobras 7″ goes on sale from Psychic Handshake Recordings.  Links to various record labels that have released other tapes, cdrs, 3″ cds by tonstartssbandht can be found on their myspace.

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This is part of my Speed Dating series.  You can read more about singles I have featured in this series here.

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The photo above was taken in Vermont on a holga using medium format film.  This photo is part of the White Lodge.

• more gprecs posts featuring photos from the White Lodge can be found here.