TLOBF Loves… The Acorn

So, if I say that The Acorn are a Canadian band, you’re instantly going to think of The Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene and the rest of that bombastic crowd. However, on this occassion, you’d be wrong. There’s nothing bombastic about The Acorn. It’s smooth, gentle and perfectly beautiful. Their songs bathe in soft guitars, exquisite vocal harmonies and prefect rhythms. What we have here is a development on country and folk rock seen through a kaleidoscope of beauty and wonder. Their Myspace page has their sound pegged as “the splishsplashsplosh of aminotic fluids sluicing through a rusty sewer grate onto the scalp of a smiling Andy Swan”. Now, I’m not entirely sure I get the Andy Swan bit, but it gives you the general idea.

Their warm sounds bring to mind Jeff Buckley, Wilco and Neil Young and yet there’s something moving about the laid back vocals that echo Ffye Dangerfield’s of the Guillemots. In fact, it’s a more rural version of the latter that The Acorn reminds me most of.

The songs are full of open and honest emotions. The lyrics are simple, beautiful and inspiring. The song ‘Crooked Legs’ recounts the age old decisions of moving away from your home town to the bright lights of the urban throng: “I’m watching the road with two young eyes to guide me“, “the fireflies fade as the city lights find me“. Whilst ‘Glory’ speaks of those small, tender moments shared with a loved one that are missed when they’re gone “Oh, the morning sun has come and you’re not there” delivered in a voice that’s full of emotional longing.

There’s no hiding from the rawness on offer here, yet it’s wrapped in such a warm and welcoming blanket that it reassures you. This combination of words and music seems to be saying “sure, life can be a terrible thing to endure, but don’t worry, everything will work out fine in the end”. And, in this day and age, that’s all one can hope for.

mp3:> The Acorn: The Flood (Pt1)