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Woodpigeon
The Arc, Stockton-on-Tees
Article written by
Jon L - May 14, 2009
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Woodpigeon, a collective from Calgary, Canada, who contain members of several other bands worth investigating including The Consonant C and Scotland's Eagleowl are principally the vehicle of Mark Hamilton, a charming, eloquent, tea-drinking chap who, were it not for the fact that he is Canadian, you might be excused for thinking had somehow been created by Ray Davies.
On record, Woodpigeon make delicately arranged and beautifully executed music, falling somewhere between folk and chamber pop. Given that this is the fifth time I've seen the band in a little over eight months and that the line-up has been ever changing, in personnel and size, you might expect the live versions of the songs to be a little less coherent and somewhat sparser. Tonight though, despite there only being four members of the band, as opposed to the eight or so regulars, the sound still swells and rolls in places before being stripped away to next to nothing, often within the same song. This is a feature Mark Hamilton's song writing which makes the songs compelling and prevents them from ever being samey or becoming background music. That an acoustic guitar, a cello, an oboe and a ukulele can make such a full sound is testament to the bands musicianship as is the way that they effortlessly add covers as diverse as 'Aurora' by Bjork and 'Lay All Your Love On Me' by Abba to their own collection of songs. In addition to this they play a song by Honeybear, the name used by tonight's ukulele handler, which is a hushed affair until around two thirds of the way through when an enormous voice erupts from deep within him. It's also a very lyrical song for a man kicked out of college for persistently writing his essays in bullet point form.
Hamilton clearly wears his heart on his sleeve in much of his material but that doesn't stop him having a bit of fun with his lyrics too. Having got the audience rapt with 'The Saddest Music in the World' and 'I Live a Lot of Places' he pulls out 'Death By Ninja' – one of his 'murder ballads' which is as pretty a song as you're likely to hear about going to ninja school to learn how to kill your lover with 'just one little punch' and the fun of disposing of the body. The richly black comedy of singing this after the previous songs isn't lost on Hamilton who grins throughout and manages to get the audience further onside while making his grizzly confession.
Despite hailing from Calgary, Canada, Woodpigeon are regular visitors to Britain and are well worth checking out next time they roll up in a town near you. There's no telling what size band you might see or what component parts may make up the band but you are guaranteed to hear music which is sometimes soaring, sometimes hushed but always heartfelt, elegant and above all beautiful.
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