Monthly Archive for July, 2008

After months of searches through numerous search engines… I’ve finally succeeded getting in touch with the Toronto based songwriter Bryan Carney and above all, get my hands on his double album – a stunning debut collection of not less than 18 tracks.

mByronic have just released a double EP album entitled “Come on, Wind and Bobby Pins” independently featuring one album with full band and another with stripped down guitar, harmonica, organ and vocals.

If my preferences went to the ‘Bobby Pins‘ tracks initially (mostly due to the fact that i’m still in my acoustic, lo-fi mood these days – months, years ), the full band album – ‘Come on, Wind‘ also handles
several great songs. And now, to be honest, from start to end, I won’t be able to choose a favorite. Both are simply gorgeous ! And trying to find comparisons to tease your curiosity is not really an easy game dealing with mBryronic music. Sure, you could note some Bob Dylan, some Nick Cave too… but Bryan Carney has released here is own style sourcing the best of the last decades with a unique sense of the melody… If I can dare i’ll draw a parallel with the Beatles ! And I bet – according to Bryan’s kindness in our e-mails exchanged – that these guys should really rock on stage !

That’s enough for the compliments ! Have a listen on their great music – as usual when album is so good the opening track will do the job – while reading Bryan answering our regular interview !

YCD : Hello Bryan, how’s it going ?
Bryan Carney : Hello Olivier/YCD! I’m doing very well, thanks– it’s full on summer now in Toronto and while my roommate and co-workers are talking air conditioners I’m slowly coming to life from the long winter sleep here and loving every degree.

YCD : Things seems to accelerate around your music these pasts weeks ! Tell us about the new band ‘mBryonic Heroes’ ?
Bryan Carney : I have started playing regularly in Toronto with a couple of very talented musicians, bassist Paul Sorenson and drummer Vitor Dourado and I wanted to reflect the collaboration that takes place when we play by departing from the name “Carney” that I took from my last name when I was playing solo or with an ad-hoc band of mostly family members previously.
We’ve had good chemistry in the few shows and jams we’ve had in Toronto so far and have gotten a very positive response from people, so a new name seemed like a good way to sort of cement this new chemistry.
I chose mByronic Heroes because I wanted to use the Byronic Hero as a half tongue-in-cheek image of an aloof group of musicians that is overt yet playful enough to let us get away with the kind of lyrics I like to write. Its mByronic because it sounds like embryonic which rolls of the tongue better and adds some humility to the name.

YCD : What’s your story with music ?
Bryan Carney : Its hard to pull off hyperbole about music because everyone wants to love it the most, but I’ll try. I think, like Vonnegut, that its the best most convincing argument for the existence of God or for me at least something holy in the world. I can remember the sort of goosebumps and holy feeling I got as a kid listening to my babysitter play the piano or listening to my parent’s Beatles or Cat Stevens or even Neil Diamond records and later Nirvana then Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen albums on my own.
So that progression more or less gives my story — lyrics became more and more important to me in chasing that holy feeling that come from a really beautiful song to me. So I spend most of my effort getting down and revising the lyrics to get as close as I can to that ideal that hits me in certain musician’s songs.
At the same time I don’t want to neglect the instrumental side of things as some better lyricists can do almost as a matter of principle it seems like. I think that having the right mood and music behind the lyrics is absolutely crucial and in the end probably more important in terms of the final product and its appeal to others.

YCD : Is there a song you wish you had written ?
Bryan Carney :That’s a tough one — I definitely aspire to write a whole album that is as meaningful or as beautiful to someone as say, Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde” or Elliot Smith’s “Figure Eight” was to me when I discovered them. I don’t think I could pinpoint a song because even in my youth I’m one of those old-fashioned people who mourn the death of the album because I think you really need to sit and listen to the whole thing to sort of get the whole picture, at least in the case of any of those albums I consider to be masterpieces and that really give me that holy feeling.

YCD :If you could share a stage with any band or artist who would you choose and why?
Bryan Carney : There are so many amazing and surprisingly little known bands I catch in Toronto or Montreal that I would absolutely love share a show with and it would be my preference to catch any band early in their most sort of experimental and humble stage — so hopefully we’ll get to share shows with lots of them.
But without a concern for being realistic, for sheer musical ability to share an actual performance with I would probably choose Wilco. I simply love their sound and I thought the stuff they did with Billy Bragg worked really well to add depth to his otherwise more singer-songwriter style.

YCD : What are your projects for the coming months ?
Bryan Carney : The newly formed mByronic Heroes are working on lining up shows in July and September around Ontario, mostly with the material on my “Come on Wind & Bobby Pins” double album and some newer stuff that we’ll hopefully put out on a new album together later this year.
I myself and possibly Paul will be travelling in Europe for August and some musical shenanigan may ensue. All three of us like experimenting with different instruments and styles so there will be lots of jamming to work out ways to keep our live show fresh as we start booking dates again.

Thank you so much, Bryan for taking time to answer our questions.

Band : mByronic Heroes
Label : none
Where to Buy : right from their myspace page !