By Jim Barber
Intensely artistic, emotionally resonant, musically dynamic, stuffed with a way of renewal, of creative exploration and of outstanding lyrical literacy, Toronto dream-rock band Ace of Wands is aptly named, with its Tarot-inspired nomenclature an ideal match for the three-piece act’s recordings and dwell performances.
The band is about to launch its third studio album, Future Wave, a Carrollian rabbit-hole dive into themes of the fickleness, the omnipresence and the relentlessness of time, in addition to a delving into the human psyche because it involves grips with the facility of the previous and the longer term on the right here and now.
It was the awakening created by studying about Tarot that impressed the band’s identify, however is also stated for serving to create its mission assertion as a musical entity.
“When the band was first beginning out, I used to be entering into Tarot and simply that entire world somewhat bit. I had been given a Tarot deck as a gift from a buddy. And when it comes to my relationship with Tarot, I might not say that I’m an skilled, and I wouldn’t essentially say I adhere to the dogma or something of Tarot, however I believe it’s a very cool device to take inspiration from,” stated the band’s founder, songwriter, lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Lee Rose over Zoom.
“The imagery is basically very stunning and the writing about every of the playing cards is kind of poetic and it type of stirs up your creativeness. So once I was fascinated about band names, I simply pulled a card and it was the Ace of Wands and the that means of that card was excellent for the formation of a brand new venture. It’s like a spark of creativity and an depth of emotion, all type of tied up collectively.”
Which actually does go well with Rose as a human and Ace of Wands as a musical enterprise. There may be an exceptionalism of musicality, mixed with a lyrical and emotional dynamism that, particularly in a dwell setting, is as soul stirring as it’s splendidly distinctive. And it additionally simply plain rocks!
Ace of Wands, comprised of Rose, guitarist Anna Mernieks and drummer Jody Brumell, not too long ago launched an interesting new single, ‘Uncanny’ from their forthcoming album Future Wave, set for launch on the finish of April. It was recorded at Professional Gold Studios in Toronto alongside producer/studio proprietor Ian Blurton (Cowboy Junkies, Lowest of the Low, Skydiggers), and is the band’s third studio album, alongside a few EPs [10,000 Feet and Grown From Good, both released in 2018].
“Writing for this band, it positively dovetails with every document as a result of I’ve discovered that songwriting for me doesn’t all the time come in a short time. It takes some time to build up sufficient songs for a document that I really feel are robust sufficient. When our final document, Needing, got here out, I had in all probability written about 4 of the songs already that we’re going to be placing on this new document. That document got here out in 2023 and we have been really within the studio recording for Future Wave in January of 2024, and it was totally recorded and mastered by the tip of 2024, as a result of I had a little bit of a head begin with these 4 songs all able to go. So, it’s been sitting round for a short time. And truly a few of these songs, they’re really even older than the final document. They’d began being written earlier than Needing got here out, however they didn’t have a spot on that album,” stated Rose, who talked concerning the thematic parts of Future Wave.
“Themes have developed extra so with the final two document than with our very first one. For this one, I might say once we have been actually beginning to get into the demoing is when it developed. I usually write a demo by myself and there’s type of a skeletal construction of potential drums and potential lead guitar sorts of concepts sketched out. However then Anna and Jody, once we get collectively on the tune, they begin to dig in with their very own musical concepts. And it was throughout that course of that these type of thematic parts actually began to seem. The primary theme for this document is it’s all about this concept of time and the way the longer term is that this advancing factor that none of us can management. We now have no management over it in any respect. It’s coming regardless of whether or not we prefer it or not. And all the elements of our lives which have introduced us to this explicit second, these previous occasions are additionally dashing as much as meet us on the similar time. So we’re in the course of this type of storm, with the previous and the longer term intruding on the current second and looking for a spot inside that.”
Rose has been taking part in music in bands for practically twenty years. But it surely was solely since creating Ace of Wands that she took a deep dive into the songwriting ocean, and believes that she has advanced considerably since these early days of expressing her artistic voice in such a profound approach.
“Ace of Wands has been a band since 2017. Our first present collectively was that yr after which our first album [Lioness] got here out in 2019. And that was actually type of once I began writing songs. I had been in a band for about 10 years previous to Ace of Wands, however I wasn’t the songwriter. I used to be the lead singer and I performed bass. It was a band known as Rival Boys with my older brother Graeme [her dad Bob Rose has an extensive and eclectic record collection and encouraged his kids’ budding talents]. I used to be 17 when that began, and he would write the songs and I might sing them. By 2017 I began to experiment with songwriting and what my voice appeared like in that approach. I assume over the ten years now of writing for Ace of Wands, my songwriting has modified from being solely about an exploration of my very own private experiences and emotions, though I believe it’s all the time going to be a mirrored image of what I’m going by as a human indirectly or one other. However as I’ve gotten older and as I’ve gotten extra skilled with writing, it’s develop into far more, like, outward dealing with. So I’ve develop into extra acutely aware of the listener, I assume, a bit extra as I’m writing and sharing these experiences that I’m having and growing extra of an empathetic relationship with the listener,” she stated, as she defined her present course of.
“Often what comes first is a few type of instrumentation. It is dependent upon what instrument I’m writing on. If I’m writing on guitar, it is going to be some type of rhythmic guitar line that I’m singing alongside to and my formulation of phrases usually comes from there. I might need an idea for a tune thought, however fairly often I’m probably not singing phrases, I’m type of forming like vowel sounds, you recognize, type of mumbling nonsense together with the music and ultimately I get this sense based mostly on these mouth actions on the phrases. So it’s the physicality of the shapes of my mouth that helps the lyrics come collectively, as a result of if it feels good to my voice to sing these phrases, as a result of they’re coming from a spot the place my physique and thoughts are type of locked in, it implies that the phrases will really feel extra true or one thing. It’s type of a bodily sense feeling that I’m getting from the songwriting. The phrases, the lyrics themselves are a really non-public course of when that’s taking place. Typically it’ll be me strolling down the road and I’ve a line come into my head and I’ll jot it down on my telephone after which it turns into one thing later in a pocket book or as I stated earlier than, oftentimes these type of mouth sounds that I’m making, once I pay attention again to the voice memos of myself singing these and listening to phrases come out then the phrases begin to emerge.
“After which if I’m writing a tune on the violin, like this newest single ‘Uncanny,’ that’s a really completely different course of. So, within the band, I play organ bass pedals because the bass instrument, and I play them concurrently taking part in guitar or violin. After I’m writing on the guitar, I’m usually taking part in the foundation notes on the guitar, so the bass is supporting that. However once I’m taking part in the violin, it’s a really distinct countermelody. That’s as a result of typically the bass is holding down the melody and the violin goes to be doing one thing completely different and complicated round that. After I’m writing on the violin, I’ll normally provide you with a bass line first after which violin can type of weave out and in of that. After which the opposite factor is I’ve to have the ability to sing and play on the similar time, so the songs do get simplified in some methods usually in order that I’m not simply stumbling over myself on a regular basis.”
Watching dwell movies of Rose and Ace of Wands in motion, it appears to be like as very similar to a choreographed dance routine as a musical efficiency when she is taking part in violin and bass pedals concurrently.
“I’ve been taking part in these bass pedals since 2014, so it’s been 12 years now, which is an efficient very long time. I’ve had numerous follow. It has develop into a bit extra innate now, I might say. Like, each tune has a studying curve from me demoing it on my pc after which turning it into one thing I can play dwell. But it surely will get simpler with each passing yr. I believe really that dance side actually does influence how fluid the efficiency of the tune is as a result of a part of the ‘dance’ is retaining the beat,” she stated, explaining how the violin has been, and can all the time be an integral a part of her creativity and musicianship.
“I began taking part in violin as a part of the type of itinerant music program at my elementary college once I was in Grade 5 and I actually, actually took to it. I had taken piano classes as much as that time, however I simply couldn’t get into the piano. It wasn’t my instrument. Typically you may type of really feel it while you’re making an attempt to be taught one thing new whether or not it’s clicking or not, and the violin, immediately, actually felt prefer it was my instrument. So I began taking classes after which ended up finding out classical violin at York College [in Toronto] for my BA. And I believe getting out of the classical world and into utilizing the instrument in a rock music context, that was when it type of actually began taking place for me. I believe my instruction up till that time was very inflexible, just like the much less motion you made while you performed, the higher. I bear in mind considered one of my lecturers at college having me follow with my again up in opposition to the wall, which was the antithesis of musicality to me. So it was very releasing to go away that behind and step into with the ability to write and play my very own music on the violin. I imply, I positively bought so much out of that formal training when it comes to method and all that stuff, nevertheless it feels far more at house taking part in on this model.
“However initially violin was not a part of the plan. The band that I used to be in with my brother, Rival Boys, I used to be taking part in bass guitar, and the one cause why I switched to the bass pedals was as a result of I simply realized one which that I wished to play violin. I’d been finding out this instrument formally for 15 years at that time, and I wished to have the ability to play it in that band. So, we bought the bass pedals going so I didn’t must lose the bass, and we additionally didn’t wish to have a fourth member be a part of. So there wasn’t really any type of street map that I used to be trying in the direction of. And it’s attention-grabbing, as a result of I really discovered numerous the rock music that may have had some violin in it, it wasn’t actually my factor, particularly if it was type of psychedelic or jazzy. I simply wasn’t actually into that type of music. It’s not like I used to be sitting there listening to Jethro Tull and pondering, ‘oh, that’s what I wish to attempt to do.’ I actually felt like I used to be making my very own factor. I wasn’t evaluating myself to anybody alongside the best way, which was type of cool. And even now, when folks ask me who my largest classical violin or rock violin influences are, I’ve a tough time arising with greater than a few names.”
The band she began in alongside her brother was a trio, as is Ace of Wands. And that’s a deliberate alternative.
“I imply, I’ve identified anything, actually, so it’s onerous to say what it might be like in every other configuration. My pondering is that it’s simply so tight when you’ve three devices. With Ace of Wands, as a result of I’m taking part in the bass pedals and one other instrument on the similar time, it feels and feels like we’ve 4 folks on stage. However I imagine there’s a distillation of the sound that occurs with solely three devices, the place the whole lot must be, not essentially orchestrated, which is perhaps the unsuitable phrase, nevertheless it’s very a lot thought by. Every little thing that we’re doing, there’s a objective and a path to all of the sounds that we’re making, as a result of once we’re simply three, one individual can’t actually be going off and doing one thing fully improvised, essentially, as a result of we’re wanting to maintain it as this tight unit on a regular basis. And it’s simply logistically a lot simpler. Three folks, three schedules, and extra room on the street, so we will tour in a minivan,” she stated, explaining how Mernieks and Brumell got here into her life and her band.
“Jody and I met as a result of we have been each enlisted to be within the Do Good Assassins, which is likely one of the aspect initiatives of Ron Hawkins of Lowest of the Low, and we have been opening for Blue Rodeo throughout Canada. So we have been on that tour collectively and he was drumming, I used to be taking part in violin and we simply actually hit it off. And Jody is an unimaginable drummer, simply so versatile and such a form and simply superior individual. So I met this unimaginable drummer simply once I was fascinated about beginning my very own band. He and I struck up a friendship after which Anna I knew from her personal band known as Beams, they usually’ve been round for a very very long time. Beams and Rival Boys had performed some reveals collectively and we had type of develop into mates by that scene. After I was fascinated about beginning one thing new, I simply knew I wished to collaborate along with her. She’s simply unimaginable, and she or he wasn’t actually taking part in an excessive amount of guitar at the moment. She was taking part in banjo primarily in Beams, however she wished to be taking part in extra electrical guitar. That was her first instrument and she or he wished to get again into that. So it was type of an ideal timing factor for all three of us to be making an attempt one thing new and experimenting collectively.”
A deep thinker, properly learn, extremely articulate and blessed with not solely distinctive artistic capacity but additionally a targeted creativeness, Rose says the creation of music does assist her climate the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in these complicated, conflict-riven instances, however the place the actually therapeutic catharsis occurs in onstage.
“I’ve typically considered what non-artists do. How do they cope? And the response that I’ve gotten generally from people who find themselves not artists themselves, however who’re followers and who admire is it’s the artwork that permits them to manage. So my coping by this type of expression is that this reciprocal factor that occurs. And that’s actually cool. As an artwork maker, I really feel a lot worth in that sharing of artwork. If I have been a songwriter, however I wasn’t additionally a performer, I don’t know if it might be as fulfilling for me. I might completely get one thing out of it, nevertheless it’s taking it to that subsequent step of sharing it with different people who I believe is essentially the most therapeutic par for me,” she stated, expounding on the significance of artwork and music in instances of bother.
“I believe it’s one of many few methods that may foster a way of neighborhood so shortly. Folks’s connection to the creative world, whether or not it’s seeing one thing within the theatre or on TV or being in a room and seeing a band play, that’s one thing that you would be able to share with one other human without having phrases. You’re all experiencing the identical factor in the identical second in time, and I believe as we’ve develop into so remoted from one another with the digital world and social media and all these completely different locations, human connection turns into more durable and more durable to get. So the area that artwork can take to only get folks into neighborhood feels prefer it’s so essential proper now. It lets you recognize that you just’re not alone in feeling that chaos or feeling that void. I really feel that each single time we take the stage, it’s like getting folks in individual smiling at one another, like everybody’s feeling one thing on the similar second. It’s therapeutic for folks.”
Returning to the topic of the music popping out on Future Wave, ‘Uncanny’ is the second single to have been launched to date. ‘Fringe of the Edge’ got here out earlier this yr and it’s the results of an attention-grabbing ‘journey’ that Rose launched into.
“’Fringe of the Edge,’ properly, the inspiration for it was really a psychedelic journey on mushrooms that I used to be having when my accomplice and I have been visiting a buddy’s cottage on Georgian Bay [in Central Ontario]. We have been on an island, we have been taking mushrooms and strolling across the island in the course of the night time and I used to be feeling this type of readability about my relationship with my accomplice. It was comparatively new on the time and I used to be simply feeling this type of sense of maximum consolation and safety with this new individual. And on the similar time, it’s additionally a mirrored image of this entire theme of the longer term, and that there’s a future that’s going to come back at us that we’ve no management over, however we’re simply going to leap proper over that edge collectively and face it, no matter it’s,” she stated, transferring on to elucidate how ‘Uncanny’ happened.
“It’s type of impressed by this concept of the doppelganger. I used to be performing some analysis once I was fascinated about this. On the time I used to be making use of for the grant for this album and I used to be fascinated about its themes and the theme of time and the idea of time because it reveals up in Gothic literature and artwork about ghosts and issues haunting you out of your previous. And it led to this concept of the Gothic double, which is the doppelganger, and it’s this being that appears precisely such as you however one thing is unsuitable with it. It’s simply this concept that you would be able to acknowledge your self and really feel unsettled by it. In order that’s the concept, and I took that and ran with it from the angle of the self that I current once I’m on-line on a regular basis, selling the band, self-facing, on digicam, speaking to the media, and looking out again at these movies and pondering, ‘do I seem like that? Like, who is that this individual?’ And feeling this very bizarre existential disconnection with that one that’s on-line and presenting to the general public and feeling unsettled by that and reflecting on that pursuit of perfection. I don’t know, it’s actually a really existential, creepy exploration.”
A 3rd single will probably be popping out earlier than the onset of the Future Wave album, a tune entitled ‘Black River’ which could be the closest factor to a romantic tune that Rose has ever written.
“This one is a way more easy love tune. It was really written again in 2020 when the pandemic first kicked in, and it was all about lacking connection and feeling this enormous distance and never being so near somebody, however you may’t contact them due to this distancing we have been all experiencing at the moment,” she stated.
By way of touring in assist of Future Wave, Ace of Wands is performing on the Lodge Wolfe Island close to Kingston, Ontario on Friday, March 20, adopted by a date on the Home of Targ in Ottawa the subsequent night time. The official album launch present is Might 22 at The Sound Storage in Toronto, with Skye Wallace opening the present. A lot of different reveals happen all through Ontario in April and Might earlier than a June 26 live performance in Montreal.
For extra info on tour dates, the brand new album and extra, go to https://www.aceofwandsband.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and writer based mostly in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for greater than 30 years. In addition to his journalistic endeavors, he works as a communications and advertising specialist and is an avid volunteer in his neighborhood. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
