Woodpigeon – Treasury Library Canada

It’s been a good year for roots music. Just look at Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver and The Acorn, let alone Alison Krauss and Robert Plant winning the top Grammy for their take on tradition. Definitively, modern roots music has found a significant number of new ears in the UK lately, and as such the beloved mainstream has shifted slightly from guitar bands to more acoustic, folk-based acts. Folk music, generally, emphasizes space over time, as to me, the genre and its myriad cohorts write with honesty and respect, careful of the traditions that are being appropriated. It doesn’t mean any other style doesn’t incorporate such descriptions, as everything does, but taken on its own folk music does sound honest. Take Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, or Cat Stevens’ Tea For Tillerman. Both albums strove to present bare-necked, plaintive examples of their originators strengths, and did so perfectly. Fleet Foxes have done the same, as has Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens, along with scores more on both sides of the pond. But the passageway is crowded, and a lot of mediocrity undoubtedly reaches the mass.Take Woodpigeon, with their sophomore UK release, Treasury Library Canada. On their first, September’s Songbook [reviewed here], the Calgary-based collective restrained their accompaniment, leaving the songs in the auspices of songwriter Mark Hamilton to explore with, creating soft-spoken, Seven Swans-era (Sufjan Stevens) ballads that spoke of a gifted songwriter. But those tracks were too plaintive; pretty but unrewarding, leaving too much unsaid to fully grasp every message brought forth.Treasury Library Canada, however, is much different and consequently, much better. For one, it is a more electrifying, beaming with more strings, choral wafts, banjos, mandolins, pianos and once again, strong songwriting. Hamilton is a clever vocalist, packing screams worth of imagery into whispers, careful not to reveal too much to ruin the mood. But on this set of fourteen, he unveils a patchier set of grass in front, giving more room for the band to rabble-rouse behind him. On ‘Piano Pieces for Adult Beginners’, there are moments when Woodpigeon pull off being a rock band, and are better off for it. Bells protrude through ratchets, scoffed snare blasts and, as the title promises, simplistic piano prods. It is very sly, very mature and very good. Not once did Hamilton attempt such musical breadth on Songbook, not that he desperately needed to. I guess, here, he is more ready to experiment. And it’s all equally lovely. It’s rowdier, but still saccharine and soft-spoken, creating a clever and impressive equilibrium only the greats master. And as such, there is something greater afoot, something much more than another foray into folk. This is better than that. Treasury Library Canada stands on its own, regardless of genre and association, of a powerful set of storytelling that gushes honesty, respect and a grasp of being intensely personal.Folk music is better off with Woodpigeon around. They challenge convention, without any loss of honesty or respect. This is why the aforementioned are adored, and soon enough, why Woodpigeon will join them alongside. 85%.Woodpigeon on MySpace