New Music

FONTINE

Good Buddy (Birthday Cake Records)

The opening, fuzzed-out guitar chords of this album’s title track serve notice that there’s more to Fontine Beavis than she revealed on her debut EP, Yarrow Lover.

That six-song outing from 2023 introduced the Brandon-raised, Winnipeg-based musician as an indie folk-pop singer-songwriter, writing about finding her own space, both in love and in the world. On Good Buddy, Fontine is still concerned with matters of heart and place but, with music that recalls the blissfully noisy power pop of Matthew Sweet — especially on the record’s opening salvo of Good Buddy and Body Double — she’s also clearly more confident about who she is and what she feels.

Fontine co-produced this effort with longtime friend, bandmate and fellow Brandonite Liam Duncan (a.k.a. Boy Golden) at his Better Daze studio, and together they’ve created a powerful, live-off-the-floor indie rock sound to complement Fontine’s tales of heartache, yearning and what makes a home.

While she can still plumb the depths of loneliness and doubt (check out Current or 7 Months), Fontine’s also far surer of where she’s from and what will help her on her journey. The clues are everywhere, from the album’s title (which has become trucker slang for gay in the decades since C.W. McCall and Smokey and the Bandit), to her tales of love’s travails; from the sincere nostalgia of Home Right Here (a smouldering quasi-blues work) to the activist ache of the anthemic album-closing track Land Back. ★★★★ out of five

Stream these: Good Buddy; Night Hours; Current

— John Kendle

JAZZ

John O’Gallagher

Ancestral (Whirlwind Records)

Someone was once asked what instrument Charlie Parker played. The answer was “Alto sax. Very fast.” Without replicating Bird, at times John O’Gallagher plays alto sax very fast.

This album of adventurous, challenging contemporary jazz gives O’Gallagher and his colleagues plenty of room to drive home its musical messages. Personnel here are Ben Monder on guitar, and for the first time on record, both Andrew Cyrille and Billy Hart on drums. That should hint at the extraordinary energy throughout this release.

While there are several lower temperature ballads, such as Quixotica or Awakening, even they have moments of flurry and soaring phrases.

The writing is very strong here, with tight unison passages and complicated melodies. The two drums without doubt create a powerful foundation. O’Gallagher flies through his solos with breathtaking runs and arpeggios: this man can play. Monder’s guitar is a worthy companion and he absolutely holds his own in duet phrases. Contact, for example, features only drums and guitar, and becomes more and more intense before almost exploding with tension. Tug displays O’Gallagher’s mastery of his alto with blistering solos before resolving in a peaceful mood..

Altar of the Ancestors gives Monder a rest as O’Gallagher and the drums exude aggressive energy in flat-out excitement. It is a wow moment.

The ballad Quixotica is a lovely foil to the power of the up-tempo numbers. The complex melody builds nicely but still allows O’Gallagher to swirl and dance; if you have ever played the saxophone you will be impressed with the speed and competence displayed here. Postscript is a fitting final track that puts all the musical magic together.

Bird would nod his approval. ★★★★1/2 out of five

Stream: Awakening, Under the Wire

— Keith Black

CLASSICAL

A Christmas Carol

Skylark Vocal Ensemble

Matthew Guard, Artistic Director

(Harmonia Mundi)

At the height of yuletide comes this new release by the award-winning Skylark Vocal Ensemble, based on artistic director Matthew Guard’s abridged choral adaptation Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. The 70-minute release telling the tale of bah humbug Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformative journey is deliciously brought to life by acclaimed actor Christine Baranski, with Benedict Sheehan’s original score weaving beloved Christmas carols and folksongs into its described “choral movie score.”

With the performance notably recorded at Manhattan’s Morgan Library, which houses Dickens’ original 1843 handwritten manuscript, compelling highlights include opening chorus The Truth from Above, featuring soloists Nathan Hodgson, Sophie Amelkin, Sarah Moyer, Janet Stone. This also immediately establishes Sheehan’s evocative sound world infused with pungent dissonances and otherworldly vocal effects – especially effective during the scenes depicting visits from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future (a.k.a. Yet to Come), adding freshness to classics while showcasing the artist’s own unique compositional voice.

Other must-listen tracks are: Fezziwig’s Ball, bursting with toe-tapping, rhythmic life; a particularly haunting Coventry Carol highlighting the ensemble’s molten, overlapping phrasing; and Sheehan’s own arrangement of perennial classic Auld Lang Syne. The fact that Robert Burns’ original letter with its iconic text is also preserved at the Morgan Library adds further resonance.

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, featuring shimmering harmonies, ends this program on a lofty note, and while some purists will always prefer their seasonal offerings straight, this latest addition to the choral music discography intrigues with its sense of bold adventure for our Christmas present, while honouring all those lingering, ghosts of the not-so-distant past. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THESE: The Truth from Above; Fezziwig’s Ball; Coventry Carol

— Holly Harris