...Evening Hymns- Spirit Guides

I picked up on Jonas Bonnetta's musical project Evening Hymns by living in Peterborough where he was commonly on local music bills and through his friendship with my old roommate. Throughout the two years in Ptbo I saw him put on some really great shows, being backed by Wooden Sky for one show was a highlight, and some really strange, less than awe-inspiring shows, including a projector-prop-based stinker. I started to think that he might be growing as a musician when I started hearing songs from his new album, Spirit Guides. I found a video of him singing a song called 'Dead Deer' from this upcoming album and I could not get enough of it (find the video below). I also started to become aware that he had some famous friends. The so-called Friends of Bellwoods is a group of artists from Toronto who have created a music community which contains the likes of Ohbijou, The Acorn, Wooden Sky and others. They created two compilation discs which have raised over 17 thousand for charity. I also saw Jonas pop up on a video playing drums for the Harbourcoats, the Constantines lead singer Bry Webbs side project which I desperately want an album from. When I found out that this was who Evening Hymns was hanging around with, I knew that we would eventually see his music gain some attention. So I was not surprised when he and his album popped up on CBC radio a couple of weeks ago for an interview and some spotlight. I decided I needed this new album because I did really enjoy his older album, Farewell to Harmony. I really like his style of music, which you can probably guess by now, is the slow dreary acoustic sound which apparently is "depressing music" but only makes me happy. This style is defined by 'History Books' which sounds similar to his previous work. With Spirit Guides he has added some different arrangements which has changed up his sound and made his songs take on a more alternative sound. This clearly works for 'Broken Rifle', where the additional sound allows for a catchy song. Unfortunately the other songs on the album fall short. 'Dead Deer' is an amazing song live but sounds a bit lost as a recording. The video of 'Dead Deer' below shows Jonas and Sylvie Smith (who is another up and coming singer with a great voice which you should keep your ears open for) really givin er for the song but you dont feel the same energy on the record. The rest of the album still sounds like a local artists work. The type you might buy to help support the local guy and get a couple good listens out of but its not going to make your list of favorites. I hope Jonas keeps the music coming though because he seems like a great fella.