Fiver Trois -- Cleaning House
Fiver Trois spans the distance between jazz, country, and prog on the singular album Cleaning House -- showing vision that the band fearlessly explores, writes Richard Marcus
Cleaning House from Fiver Trois isn't your typical Country/Canadiana album (the band hails from Canada's East Coast). Sure all the usual musical accoutrements - guitar, fiddle, and peddle steel guitar - are present and accounted for, but they aren't being utilized in the manner you'd expect – even some of the song titles are a bit outside normal for a country album: "Crossing The Mote," "Elemental Progression," or "Glutton For Time." Not exactly what you'd find on your typical Nashville session list.
Lead singer, guitarist, and primary song writer Simone Schmidt (Fiver), and their co-conspirators (Jeremy Costello bass, Nathan Doucet drums, Dani Crowther pedal steel and John Sharmar fiddle) have crafted something they call, for lack of a better term - Country Prog. Personally, I think they're selling themselves short (never been a big fan of 'prog') as their music has more in common with free form jazz than the former.
They have obviously been working as a unit for a significant length of time, or how else could they do what they do with the amount of comfort they display? The characteristics of the music on this album – creativity and improvisation – shared with some forms of jazz, can only come about when the musicians involved not only have deep familiarity with each other, but trust the others implicitly.
How many country albums do you know with instrumental tracks that aren't bluegrass? Or at least follow a rather set pattern. "Crossing The Mote" may have some instruments in common with those other tunes, but nothing much else. There is a kind of surreal quality to the sound of the track – a quality that defies our expectation of how pedal steel, fiddle, guitar, bass and drums are supposed to sound when played together.
Beyond the amazing skill each of the players brings to this song, there's also the fact they all seem to share an equal ambition to subvert convention and preconceived notions of how their instruments are supposed to sound. This results in an enthralling and fascinating tune of compelling artistry.
Even on the more typical country sounding "Good Run" the band take the sound in unexpected directions. While it has all the basic qualities of a good-time, up-tempo, country song, and lyrics that fit, "When the going gets rough/the rough get going", the style – they bring something different to the table.
From the jazz-influenced bass solo at about the half way point of the song to the slightly discordant ending they prove they are not your typical country outfit. This is not to say this isn't a country tune, because it is - but they have pushed the boundaries of our definition of that term in ways few others have.
Schmidt's vocals are a wonderful underpinning to the whole process. They have an expressive baritone which seems to provide ballast for the more spontaneous directions the music might want to take. Their vocal qualities are also beautifully suited to the quieter and more introspective pieces on the recording - the lovely folkish "Only In The Longing" and the just plain comfortable song "RJD."
Cleaning House from Fiver Trois is not going to be everyone's taste, but that's a good thing. This is a group of musicians with a vision that they aren't afraid to express and explore. When you push boundaries you're certain to either alienate or leave some folk behind. However these bands are essential to ensuring the health of any type of music.
Stagnation is death in art and bands like Fiver Trois ensure country will never stay in one place. This alone would make Cleaning House worthy of listening to, but it also happens to be a great piece of music with really enjoyable songs. Take a chance and listen to something a little out of the ordinary today - you won't regret it.
