The Wooden Sky – Every Child A Daughter, Every Moon A Sun

Band: The Wooden Sky
Album: Every Child A Daughter, Every Moon A Sun

Toronto’s The Wooden Sky has released their third full-length album. This quartet is comprised of Gavin Gardiner (vocals, guitar), Andrew Wyatt (bass, vocals), Simon Walker (keys, guitar, vocals) and Andrew Kekewich (drums). After garnering much attention and receiving high praise for both When Lost at Sea (2007) and If I don’t come home you’ll know I’m gone. (2009), I had high expectations for this album.

The album starts simply with acoustic guitar strumming and Gardiner’s soulful voice before the rest of the band joins him for the remainder of “Child of the Valley”. With Walker’s surprising falsetto adding texture to the vocals, the opening track sets the tone for this stunning record. As Gardiner’s vocals are full of raw emotion, it is easy to be drawn in. The Wooden Sky holds on for the entirety of the record, taking the listener on a journey that is guided by Gardiner’s songwriting.

“Take Me Out”, a song part of the City of Light EP that was released as a preview to the album, is one of my favourite tracks on the record. Paying homage to another generation, it’s a song that easily could’ve been found in my parent’s record collection. “City of Light”, “Dancing at My Window” and “Angelina” are also tracks that were previewed in the EP, but the songs have blended into the full-length in a way that allows the listener to take it in differently.

As it’s a slower paced album overall, the songs come off as misleadingly straightforward on first listen, but there are details buried in the songs. In fact, this record showcases the band members’ multi-instrumentalism with some elements of experimentation. Songs like “Your Fight Will Not Be Long” and “City of Light” add a synthy ambience, which is a relatively new focus in their sound. During “I’m Your Man” Gardiner’s heartwrenching vocals match the experimental sounds and pulsating guitars, which really speaks to the songwriting. The electricity is quieted with an acoustic, less twangy reprise of “Angelina” that prominently features the violin and a heartfelt “Hang On To Me”.

With this release, The Wooden Sky has built on their strengths – layered harmonies, entrancing percussion and magnetic vocals – and has released another album to be proud of. Not surprisingly, the expectations I had for this album have been met.

Every Child A Daughter, Every Moon A Sun was released this week via Black Box Recordings. Much like many of the individual songs, the record itself is a folk-rock slow burner to sit with, embrace and simply feel. And hey, you might even want to find yourself and slow dance partner.