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“Domestic bliss with a serrated edge” UNCUT 8/10 |
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Leave No Bridge Unburned is the exciting new release from Canadian husband and wife duo WHITEHORSE, released on Six Shooter Records on April 20th, 2015.Leave No Bridge Unburned sees Whitehorse shaping a bigger, bolder rock sound than previous releases and any lingering assumptions that the two are working within the boundaries of a Folk duo should be put to rest. Leave No Bridge Unburned is a fiery, forceful and finely tuned album. While there’s more in the mix now, with more people at the board, more sonic swagger in the ears, Whitehorse will continue to be a story told of intimacy and passion. Whitehorse formed in 2010 by husband and wife solo musicians Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland. The two toured in each other’s bands for years, but they put aside their award winning individual careers to build a new band out of their exceptional guitar playing, his and her harmonies and a flair for dramatic, narrative songwriting. Whitehorse has since been nominated for the Polaris Short List (2013) for The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss, which also received 9/10 in UNCUT Magazine, alongside support from BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris.
Whitehorse’s story has been told as two acclaimed musicians joining forces under one new name - no drummer, no keyboard player, violinist or even bass player on call, and no producer. Just Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland. The first album and EP demonstrate the success of this simple equation, one plus one, with an abundance of guitar slinging, songwriting expertise and white-hot desire. Of course, the live show has been anything but simple. Melissa and Luke Now, with the follow up LP Leave No Bridge Unburned, Whitehorse messes with the math. The duo hired ex-pat producer Gus Van Go to make the record. The three met at the 2013 Polaris Music Prize Gala, where Whitehorse performed as a Short List nominee. There are songs that tap into Luke and Melissa’s shared fascination with the American south. Opening track “Baby What’s Wrong” is the story of a creepy lover told with an evil twang, an even darker version of Calexico’s “desert noir.” The mariachi trumpet of “You Get Older,” about a human smuggler with an existential side, also conjures the burnt-out border towns, stray dogs and rooster crows that populate Spaghetti Westerns, Southern Gothic novels and dusty postapocalyptic landscapes. And then there’s the love song. Leave No Bridge Unburned contains what Melissa calls her first real love song for Luke. “Sweet Disaster” channels slinky, stylized Bond themes and Sixties R&B in a story about one rich man’s quest to send a couple to Mars. Fitting, for a band best described as “space cowboy lovebirds” (Now Magazine, Toronto).
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