An act that has regularly blipped on my radar in the last years is Canada's The Tragically Hip, a band relatively unknown outside their own borders but massive in the home market - rather like Australia's Powderfinger. 'The Hip' enjoyed a 33-year run until charismatic frontman Gord Downie died in 2016.
Musically, their sound is guitar-based, with clear influences from blues, folk and alt-rock. Often compared to REM, not least due to the sometimes obscure and highly literate lyricism that the singers of both bands use. Me, I'm more reminded of the jagged, unexpected chords of 80's band 'Slovenly', themselves heavily influenced by The Fall. The Hip used a twin-guitar attack with lines that weave in and around themselves. Another direct comparison would be Powderfinger who also generate an authentic accessibility in their unassuming but powerful sound.
'Fully Completely' was the Tragically Hip's third proper album and gave them the breakthrough push into Canada's major league where they would become a fixture. A fine place to start an in-depth look at this group and a shipment of 2nd-hand CD's is winging its way over from Berlin to provide me with more.
Where's our pigeon camera?
By now he could be anywhere
And after all that training
It was something we could no longer contain.
