Northern reflections
Latest Northern Chorus alb represents a change in direction
Rob Nay

With its latest release, A Northern Chorus is celebrating a substantial shift in sound as it strips away layers and moves toward more concise tunefulness.

Gone are the band’s marathon songs and numerous guitar parts. In their place is a directness that puts the emphasis elsewhere.

“The songs from the get-go were different,” singer/guitarist Pete Hall says of the material on The Millions too Many. “With the last record, there were a lot of soundscape ideas that were going on. There are melodies there but sometimes they get a bit buried under the wash of guitars.

“But on this new one there’s a lot of ideas that are acoustically based… and the main melodies were more important.”

That focus on a more straightforward approach proved fruitful as The Millions resonates with rich tunes throughout and strikes a sure-footed balance between the prominent hooks of pop music and the skilful arrangements of post-rock. Hall says it was a natural process for the group to trim songs after spending much of its three previous records crafting dense, lengthy material.

“It’s interesting for us to try and get to the point quicker,” Hall says, calling from the group’s hometown of Hamilton.

Along with completing a number of road trips since it released Bitter Hands Resign in 2005, A Northern Chorus also devoted about a year to prepping tunes for The Millions. Hall and fellow vocalist and guitarist Stuart Livingstone started developing material on acoustic guitars before taking it to the rest of the group — bassist Owen Davies, cellist Alex McMaster, drummer Craig Halliday, and violinist Erin Aurich, who recently returned to the band after departing following the release of its debut album.

In some cases, the songs changed dramatically once the rest of the band got involved, Hall says, and he partly credits the arrival of Halliday for spurring a more collaborative approach.

Working once again with producer, friend and Holy Fuck member Graham Walsh, A Northern Chorus recorded the majority of the new disc in eight days at an old barn 45 minutes out of Hamilton that had been converted into a studio.

Besides changing its songwriting process, Hall says the band also paid close attention to capturing the material in the studio, choosing to cut down on the number of guitar tracks to allow more room for vocals, strings, horns and other instruments.

“This one was more about recording the bare bones and then just seeing what we should be doing later for overdubs,” Hall says. “We were really trying to figure out in the recording process how we were going to make sure every part that was necessary was heard.”