| Biography: | Spygirl plays lush, melodic, elegant, and dark pop/rock. If Spygirl were a martini, they’d be equal parts sonic assault, naked duets and lush harmonies with a dash of drum & bass, and garnished with a twist of Canadiana - shaken vigorously, of course. If Spygirl were an outfit, you’d look geek-slick, full in all the right places and your ass would look hot.
Spygirl recently completed their second full-length album, pieces of evidence, released March 2008.
Spygirl was overjoyed to work once again with favourite musical wizard Tom Rothrock, who mixed a few songs on their 2000 self-titled debut. This time he came on board as Producer in full. Mr. Rothrock (who has also created records with some of popular music’s great recent innovators such as Beck, Elliott Smith, Elbow, Sloan, Badly Drawn Boy and James Blunt) helped the band create a spontaneous, relaxed and raw recording, due in part to his laid back mix of confidence, spontaneity, knowledge and love of music, and in part to recording much of the album live off the floor. The result is a group of songs that belong together, sharing a landscape that is lush, melodic, elegant and dark.
This is the band’s 12th year. The Vancouver-based 6 piece group was born out of a musical bond between founders Koralee Tonack (lead vocals, guitar) and Jane Gowan (trumpet, keyboards). The two initially formed Time Waits - the acoustically charming mother of today’s luscious pop child. The group included Jon Roper (guitar), performing mostly original songs written by Gowan. Several recordings were released on cassette. Now those are hidden away in boxes...somewhere. Eventually James Ong (keyboards) and Eduardo Ottoni (drums) joined, and with a fuller sound developing, the band released their debut CD entitled This Thin Disguise.
A collective desire to streamline the sound resulted in a less acoustic, more pop/rock sound. The viola da gamba and accordion, previously played by Ong and Gowan respectively, were abandoned in favour of keyboards, fender rhodes and trumpet. By this time other band members had begun contributing to the songwriting, creating excitement and freshness. As the direction of the music changed, so did the name, and the band’s self-titled debut (informally known as The Yellow Album) was recorded just as the transformation to Spygirl took place. The disc was nominated for a West Coast Music Award and also gained much positive media attention.
In 2005 Al MacInnes (bass) joined the band to add substance to the style. Now with a full line-up to carry the tunes, Spygirl released a 5-song EP as a precursor to the full-length album in August, 2005. The songs on this disc are homages to the band’s constant quest for the perfect pop epic. All the tracks from this disc were re-recorded on pieces of evidence.
Spygirl has toured in Canada and the UK, and plans to be out on the road again in summer 2009 to support the new album.
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