Blue Rodeo

Blue Rodeo drummer Glenn Milchem will see his band The Swallows release their fourth album Demystified on March 1.  The band will be celebrating the release with an album launch at Toronto’s The Piston on March 3.

You can download the track “Shoot Out Sparks” here.

In truth, Milchem intended to make a sonically diverse, acoustic-based record when he first conceived of Demystified. Having collaborated with artists ranging from Change of Heart, Andrew Cash, and Holy ***, Milchem clearly has an eclectic array of musical interests and, as such, he needs an outlet to express them. So, when he gets the inkling to record his own songs, he usually does some multi-tracking and plays every instrument himself (including a yali tambur, a Turkish bowed instrument, featured on “The Day is Upon Us”).

That’s pretty much what happened with Demystified at first, but as the sessions at Twang Recordings with co-producer Carl Petzelt progressed, it got rockier and rockier and musicians like John Borra (bass), Andrew Innanen (drums, since replaced in the live band by Brad Kilpatrick), Jonny James (guitar, since replaced in the live band by Dean Drouillard), Michael Boguski (keyboards), and special guests Bob Packwood and Julie Fader were called in to bolster a couple of songs. Otherwise, all Milchem, all the time.

Milchem sees Demystified, as his most multi-layered record yet, both musically and philosophically. He can write an uncharacteristic love tune to his wife (“Shoot Out Sparks”), as easily as he can reconsider his perspective on war after Blue Rodeo performed for the troops in Afghanistan (“Outside the Wire”). Yet he does it all really artfully and deceptively, like only the best pop song writers really can. The Swallows may only appear sporadically but, as Demystified demonstrates, when they do, they’re here to leave a definitive mark.