Constantines’ Steven Lambke and Construction & Destruction‘s Colleen Collins and David Trenaman are what Lambke describes as long time friends, sometimes tour buddies, and “sporadic collaborators.” They recently met up during a trip to Toronto, and the result was Revolution C, a three-song EP recorded at the studio of the same name.
Technically, it was Toronto’s Revolution Recording Studio C where the trio put this together, recorded by Phil Hotz and assisted by Andrew Doidge, but “Revolution Recording Studio C” doesn’t quite roll off the tongue the same way, or conjure up allusions of avant-garde Beatles tracks.
Lambke says the trio first met in 2007 at SappyFest, a music festival held annually in Sackville, New Brunswick, or at least suspects they did.
“We a toured together in… 2007, I think. I had just released the first Baby Eagle record, they had just released Homebodies. Shotgun Jimmie was also on the tour and had just released The Onlys,” says Lambke in an attempt to put everything into perspective.
“It was an Atlantic Canada to Ontario tour, I think. It was a whole bunch of shows anyway. We have been close friends since. I recorded Dog Weather at their house, with them.”
While perhaps not regularly collaborators, Lambke says the three of them are most definitely sporadic collaborators, “but this is the first time doing this.”
“This” meaning their first three-song EP together. Construction & Destruction had a day in a Toronto studio, and the trio used the time to create a not-quite-split EP.
“They drove here from Nova Scotia and asked if I wanted to join them in the studio and if they could stay at my house,” laughs Lambke. “They only called me the day before the session!”
“We worked out the three tunes on the go in studio, one from each of us as songwriters.”
“At the Start of the Song” was Lambke’s contribution. Rushed to come up with something on the fly, Lambke says he had to pull from the reserve to had something ready on time.
I wrote it at Daniel Romano‘s house waking up the morning after the last show of a tour we did a couple of years ago,” say Lambke, successfully trying in another SappyFest alumnus. “In the studio I played Colleen and Dave a few things I had, and that was the one they responded too.”
The result is an almost whispered western ballad that comes across as being a bit meta as Lambke sings, “Daniel, is this the start of a song for me?”
Collins’ contribution of “Failed Alchemy” is another half-whispered piece that finds its lower end thundering away on piano. It’s practically Scandinavian in the way it’s evocative of Björk or Lykke Li.
The EP closes with “Expanding Universe,” led by Trenaman and full of harmonies and, somehow, existential dread. Par for the course in 2018.
“We do plan to continue it as a series,” says Lambke. “No exact plans, but the idea is we’ll get together in front of a recording device every so often and make another EP.”
The trio will be making a short tour through Ontario this December (and if we’re placing bets, we’d guess they’re probably making an appearance at SappyFest later next summer).
Tour Dates:
12.13.18 – Hamilton, ON @ Into The Abyss Records
12.14.18 – London, ON @ B13 The Bakers Dozen
12.15.18 – Guelph, ON @ 10c Shared Space
12.16.18 – St. Catharines, ON @ The Warehouse
12.18.18 – Toronto, ON @ The Burdock