Rock? Pop? Experimental? Something completely different? Skeleton Club’s Death, Love, & Money has you covered. The boys from Montréal packed up everything to and relocated it all to Nova Scotia. What they offloaded was everything from loud, distorted punches to gentle, melodic caresses and everything in between on this strong opener.
Skeleton Club formed in Montreal two years ago, but for their debut album, Death, Love, & Money, the band moved to Nova Scotia to record at the Old Confidence Lodge in Riverport, Nova Scotia. At the same time the band participated in the artist development program at NSCC’s Ivany Campus.
“Once we decided to make an album, we went in to Studio Le Beatbox in Montréal where Morgan banged out all the drum tracks in a day like a machine. After that, we headed out to the East Coast to record the rest of the album,” say the band. “We wanted to create an album with a wide variety of feels that felt glued together by it’s sound and lyrical themes.”
The band layered laid out the entirety of the tracks for Death, Love, & Money in Riverport before completing the mix on the album. In the process they also managed to grow solid east coast following before it was time for them to head back to Montréal.
“We tried to make an album that was personal and sonically interesting – something that would be fun to listen to the whole way through.”
The song “Garbonzo”’s synths plunge you right into the middle of a stealth mission on the Atari as lyrics of defiance take centre stage.
A choir of robots is summoned for “Boogie Night, Boogie Morning,” a track that’s much more danceable than the rest. Appropriate, given the title.
When I saw the title “Doomfox,” visions of distorted strings that walk the line between major and minor keys drifted through my head, but what instead floated through my ears was a relaxed, happy-sounding tune that also provided me with the name of my next D&D character. “That’s Fine” follows up with a chill yarn about self-reliance.
“$ Talks” and the cheekily-named “Jendall Kenner” are as straight-forward as they come; laidback little tunes about the loveliness of cash.
And we end off with my personal favourite, “El Dorado,” an almost-haunting combination of guitar chords, a voyage, a dream, and the heartbreaking realization that the dream is, in fact, a dream.
Skeleton Club sought to create an auditory odyssey with their latest, and whichever part we find ourselves on, we’re here for it.