With Ginseng and Honey is the debut album of norc, a Halifax’s trio “of questionable genre” but words like ambient, prog, and math suit them well. The album features complex rhythms and harmony, but the ingredients are put together with a pop sensitivity. Their sound is full and well-arranged, with instrument parts seemingly written to get the most bang out of a trio.
The band features Ryan Holland on drums, Zach Hazelwood on guitar, and Christiana Armstrong on keyboards and vocals. Holland’s drumming is precise and focused, as well as very musical. Percussion parts are so well integrated to the songs that sometimes they seem written for drums first. Hazelwood’s guitar work is very texture and rhythm oriented, full of rich chord voicings and arpeggios. Armstrong plays a variety of roles on keyboard: piano, synth, sweeps, and occasional stand-in for the absent bass guitar.
With Ginseng and Honey gives us a full taste of norc’s voice. The vocals have an ethereal character that reaches for the dramatic when necessary, but never comes out as over-produced. That balance is well represented in the final moments of the opening track, “Tulip.” The drama presented here is also less of the kind that drives anxiety, and more like the hopeful intensity of new beginnings.
It’s refreshing how well the instrumentation stays out of the vocals way and vice-versa, especially considering the level of detail in the backing tracks. A lot of the flashiest instrumental work is appropriately set aside for the two instrumental cuts, “Riviera Paradise” and the closing track “Obsidian.” The lyrics favour short meditations rather than over-wound poetics. An easy candidate for favourite hook would be the “running on the wind” section at the end of “Arizona.”
The production sound is clear and restrained, allowing the impressive arrangements to do the heavy lifting. If not for some additional guitar and vocal tracks it would be easy to assume the record sound is pretty close to the live experience, which is impressive for a trio and we are so here for it.
There is a lot to like about norc. The epic vocal finale and short swing on the ride cymbal during verses in “Arizona,” the moving piano that accompanies “Equinox” and the slinky guitar riff during its disco ending, the fluorescence-meets-natural-medicine cover art… Pour yourself some norc, With Ginseng and Honey.