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in Albums
June 5, 2015
Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn
Do Make Say Think fashioned a fourth full-length album of tremendous beauty and depth, more loosely woven than previous records and played with a dark.../ ➝
June 5, 2015
June 4, 2015
June 4, 2015
Other Truths
The sixth full-length from Do Make Say Think features four long-form tracks, three of which clock in at over 10 minutes, and all of which trace the inimitable musical arcs that have made this band justly celebrated for their unique sonic palette and vibrant distillation of compositional forms and influences into some of the past decade’s most consistently rich and rewarding instrumental rock.
DMST admirably stick to their roots and allow the vines that spring from their fertile musical garden to wind, curl and climb for as long as required. More than ever, the players keep their heads down, creating wonderful multi-movement instrumental works (with the occasional mantric or wordless vocal passage, courtesy guest singers The Akron Family and Lullabye Arkestra), overflowing with attention to tone and timbre, animated by unfussy yet ornate harmony, melody and polyrhythm, shot through with ineffable soul. The four songs on Other Truths are vintage Do Make Say Think, and the album represents the first time since the band’s debut (recorded over a dozen years ago) that they have found themselves with an entire collection of songs that unfold so organically over long duration.
Ultimately it is tricky to distill what has made DMST so compelling to so many critics and fans over their 13-year history, but inarguably something beyond the sum of its parts has always sparkled through their music, an amalgam of many elements that seem present all at once, on every song and through every album: cerebral, emotional, atmospheric, visceral, cosmic, pastoral, synthetic, organic, meditative, ecstatic. Other Truths rallies them all once again, in new and dynamic ways, bearing the distinct imprint of the band’s sound – a brilliant addition to the band’s canon.
Release date: 19 October 2009 (Europe), 20 October 2009 (rest of world)
Running time: 43:44
Credits
PERSONNEL
Ohad Benchetrit
David Mitchell
James Payment
Justin Small
Charles Spearin
WITH
Julie Penner: violin
GUESTS
Michael Barth: trumpet
Leon Kingstone: Saxophone
Recorded at Giant Studios and Th’Schvitz, mixed at Th’Schvitz, by Ohad Benchetrit with Justin Small and Charles Spearin, Toronto, 2009. Mastered at Lacquer Channel by Phil Demetro.
May 13, 2015
Goodbye Enemy Airship The Landlord Is Dead
The second album by DMST captured the evolving and evocative sound of the band in all its newfound subtlety and sophistication. Recorded in an old wooden barn outside their hometown of Toronto, the album is swaddled in late-night, late-summer ambiance, maintaining an atmosphere of spontaneity and accident (along with the background sounds of chirping crickets) alongside the increased attention to composition in many of the pieces. While the record is bookended by the band’s inimitable psych-rock explosions and explorations, much of the material here is more reflective and experimental, with increased referencing of jazz influences (modal horn passages, chilled-out tempos) and a progressive command of studio techniques that yielded mixes abundant with sonic details and surprises. Electronics and effects are often deployed at micro-levels, placing strange static noises and bubbling textural flourishes in the soundstage which catch the corner of the eye/ear and encourage repeat listens (headphones strongly advised).
When this record was released, Do Make Say Think were still very much a rock band, devoted to brash riffing and blissful repetition, but they were moving towards more sublime dynamics and harmonics. The tensions between Justin’s ragged reverbed guitar work and the more restrained, pensive playing of Charles and Ohad (on horns, bass and guitars) had become more acute, imbuing this batch of songs with more finely-etched contrasts and colours. Jason’s electronics, while continuing at times to soar to the saturation point, showed a greater attention to detail. The interplay between drummers James and Dave was more relaxed and stripped-down, easing away from the constant kineticism of the debut record to give the other instruments more breathing room. Goodbye Enemy Airship… is raw and polished, visceral and cerebral, combining rock and jazz traditions of space music with the ‘instrumental’ potentials of the mixing room to produce a gem of a record.
Release date: 13 March 2000 (Europe), 27 March 2000 (rest of world)
Running time: 48:17
Credits
PERSONNEL
Ohad Benchetrit: guitar, bass, saxophone, flute
Jason McKenzie: keyboards, effects
Dave Mitchell: drums
James Payment: drums
Justin Small: guitar
Charles Spearin: bass, guitar, trumpet
Recorded in Jason’s grandparent’s barn near Port Hope, Ontario by Ohad and Charles, August 1999. TRACKS 4 + 7 recorded at CIUT radio in Toronto, December 1998. Mixed and mastered by Ohad and Charles at D.A.V.E. in Toronto.
BUY ALBUM
Tracklist
1. When Day Chokes The Night
2. Minmin
3. The Landlord Is Dead
4. The Apartment Song
5. All Of This Is True
6. Bruce E Kinesis
7. Goodbye Enemy Airship
April 13, 2015
Do Make Say Think
Do Make Say Think self-released this debut album in Toronto in 1997, and we heard it the following spring. The band’s infectious spacerock-cum-swing approach to sweeping instrumentals, and their brilliant realisation of the potentials of 8-track recording, hooked us instantly. Rhythm syncopation, reverb-soaked guitar, the occasional horn, and some of the finest saturated synth tones we’ve ever heard – this record conjures up rainy streets and wet cigarettes with the best of them. A classic modern lounge album that also shreds, with widescreen breakbeat blissouts driven by punk-rock guitars. An exuberant debut, containing all the building blocks DMST has been transforming into sublime music architectures ever since.
Release date (band self-release): 1997
Release date (Constellation): 8 March 1999
Running time: 72:44
Credits
BAND PERSONNEL
Ohad Benchetrit: guitar, bass, saxophone, flute
Jason McKenzie: keyboards, effects
Dave Mitchell: drums
James Payment: drums
Justin Small: guitar
Charles Spearin: bass, guitar, trumpet
Recorded and mixed at CIUT Radio in Toronto by Do Make Say Think, July 1997. TRACKS 2, 6, 8 recorded at some school for the arts by Charles, Ohad, Peter, JR and Adam, September 1996.
BUY ALBUM
Tracklist
1. 1978
2. Le’espalace
3. If I Only…
4. Highway 420
5. Dr. Hooch
6. Disco and Haze
7. Onions
8. The Fare To Get There
