Reviews
“[A] set of confessionals and narratives that veer between painfully shy intimate love songs, crawling dirges, wistful ballads and slow marches.”
Signal to Noise
“Eric Chenaux artfully mixes bluegrass and folksy drunken strums with bareboned rock tones, along with improvised and experimental curls. … Simpl[y] put an awkward bitter sweet masterpiece.”
Musique Machine
“[T]he pathos of these ghostly folk forms, transmitted with fierce sincerity through time and space, has considerable depth and honesty to it… Amorphous they may be, and flying low beneath the emotional radar, these songs can nevertheless break your heart.”
The Wire
“Chenaux's trio borrows established, time-honored melodies from the world of folk and marries them with spastic, well-placed pieces of angular sound. Dull Lights becomes folk music in a blender set to pulse.”
Tiny Mix Tapes
“[D]isarmingly candid folk confessionals dissolve into piercing banjo-plucked discord, Scottish-highlands hymnals and nomadic drum patterns…that echo the muted abrasion of dried-out autumn leaves scraping against sidewalks.”
Eye Weekly
Signal to Noise
“Eric Chenaux artfully mixes bluegrass and folksy drunken strums with bareboned rock tones, along with improvised and experimental curls. … Simpl[y] put an awkward bitter sweet masterpiece.”
Musique Machine
“[T]he pathos of these ghostly folk forms, transmitted with fierce sincerity through time and space, has considerable depth and honesty to it… Amorphous they may be, and flying low beneath the emotional radar, these songs can nevertheless break your heart.”
The Wire
“Chenaux's trio borrows established, time-honored melodies from the world of folk and marries them with spastic, well-placed pieces of angular sound. Dull Lights becomes folk music in a blender set to pulse.”
Tiny Mix Tapes
“[D]isarmingly candid folk confessionals dissolve into piercing banjo-plucked discord, Scottish-highlands hymnals and nomadic drum patterns…that echo the muted abrasion of dried-out autumn leaves scraping against sidewalks.”
Eye Weekly
 | Sloppy GroundEric Chenaux CD / 180gLP / DL |
CST052
 | Tiny MirrorsSandro Perri CD / 180gLP / DL |
CST047
 | Plays Polmo PolpoSandro Perri CDEP / 180gEP / DL |
CST042
 | Welcome Crummy MysticsFrankie Sparo CD / LP / DL |
CST023
 | Ça Va CognerFeu Therese CD / 180gLP / DL |
CST049
Description
Eric Chenaux has been a creative force in Toronto underground music for the better part of two decades. He played guitar and sang in Phleg Camp and LifeLikeWeeds through the early 1990s, released his first solo record in 1996, and has recorded and performed tirelessly in Toronto for the last 15 years, both solo and with the likes of Michelle Mcadorey, Martin Arnold and Sandro Perri. He co-founded the Rat Drifting label with Arnold in 2000 and has played on several of the label’s releases, with groups like The Reveries, The Draperies, and Drumheller.From his launching point in punk-rock, Chenaux has delved deep into the language of the guitar, pursuing minimalism, improvisation, fractured folk and slack noise, among other mediations and immediacies. He also sings and writes beautifully, and it has long been a dream of ours to hear a batch of new vocal tunes. In 2005, we invited Eric to record some songs at the original Hotel2Tango in Montreal. Supported by longtime collaborators Martin Arnold and Nick Fraser, Chenaux forged a sublime 9-song album that folded his devotion to Scottish folk and pop balladry, his mastery of ‘damaged’ guitar dynamics, and his wistful, thoughtful voice into wonderfully fluid structures shaped by a trio of seasoned improvisers.
Dull Lights is an album of long winding melodies and subtle shifts and turns. It is also an album of love songs. Fraser’s drums play around the beat, or paint beneath it, while Arnold and Chenaux pluck buzzing lines from guitars and banjos. From the warped guitar laden drag-waltz of “Ronnie Mary”, to the processional monophony of “White Dwarf, White Sea”, to the distorted bagpipe swath of “Worm and Gear”, to the white noise crooning of the title track – Eric Chenaux composed a delicate, intricate, inspired cycle of pared-down tunes using a highly original palette of guitar-based sounds and strategies.
Release date: 11 September 2006 (Europe), 25 September 2006 (rest of world)
Running time: 48:34
Packaging notes
CD xxxxxxxxx xxxxx.LP xxxxxxxxx xxxxx.
Tracklist
1. Skullsplitter2. Worm And Gear
3. I Can See It Now
4. Weather The Wind
5. Dull Lights
6. Memories Are No Treasure
7. White Dwarf White Sea
8. Ronnie-May
9. However Wildly We Dream
Credits
PERSONNELEric Chenaux: vocals, electric guitar, 12 string banjo, lap steel guitar, harmonica
Martin Arnold: electric tenor banjo, portable sampling keyboard
Nick Fraser: drums
GUESTS
Jessica Moss: spinning speakers on TRACK 2
Recorded at Hotel2Tango in Montreal by Efrim Menuck, February/March 2006. Mastered at Grey Market by Harris Newman.
