Growing up through the 80's there was one Crayola he kept and never
used. It was the 25th in a pack of 24. A lucky find at a local daycare
garage sale.
There amongst the "Prussian Blue" and "Indian Red" it was nestled
firmly into what little available space was left, bearing the oddly
enticing name "Muted 70's Brown".
"Hmmm..." he thought, "It seems like more of an orange." And so with a
worndown stub of Raw Umber he amended the name to "Muted 70's
BrownOrange".
Several years passed and still the crayon remained untouched,
until one day, for some unremarkable reason, he picked it up and
started drawing. With the first tentative tracings of an outline he
began to hear soft arpeggios - could've been guitar, could've been
piano, couched in soft splashes of dislocated reverb. With intuition
quickly defeating his initial frightened hesitation he continued to
draw, and as the strokes became more assured, the lines clearer and
bolder, the shards of sound coalesced and solidified into an exact
rendition of Townes Van Zandt's "High, Low, and In Between". "Muted
70's BrownOrange indeed", he thought to himself when done.
For a while he believed that the crayon was magic,
one-of-a-kind and so he only drew in Muted 70's BrownOrange, and so
only ever heard Townes in his head, until one day, for some
unremarkable reason, he began to color in a picture of the Las Vegas
skyline with Cerulean Frost. Much to his surprise he heard sounds
again, only now it was disjointed drums punctuating subtly abrasive
fax-machine guitars. Just as the finishing touches were being scratched
across the Imperial Palace he recognized the sounds. Wilco. Yankee
Hotel. Understanding dawned and in a frenzy he grabbed up a handful of
crayons and began to scribble madly without form.
Sonic Silver manifested itself as "Marquee Moon". Midnight
Pearl was "Whatever You Love, You Are". Malachite, The National's
"Alligator". In this epiphanic state he tore out a fresh page and began
to combine colours, eyes ecstatic at what he heard.
A light scraping of green against blue would add a halo of echo
to tremulous organs. The softer metallic hues interwove intricate
guitar lines around the faded purple of the vocals. Eyes-closed
experiments with confident primary colours yielded brass and piano
strewn almost carelessly atop swells of cymbals and fuzz. And the Muted
70's BrownOrange, when sparingly added to this seemingly haphazard
melange, made them songs.
Sometime in the winter of 2007, Montreal band Murder Ford
Monument obtained an off-the-record government grant to purchase the
drawing and used it as a strict template to record their debut
self-titled album, to be released amongst the muted colours of Fall
2009.
MFM REVIEWS
HERO HILL
"When
lead singer Jesse LeGallais’ baritone explodes over the fuzzy guitar
and horns on The Hills Were On Fire, you can’t help but think of The
National. His voice is similar to Mat’s and the band tries hard to
match the energy of the NY outfit over the eight songs that make up
their self-titled EP.... the band is trying some interesting things –
the female vocals that perk up the bleak Gunfighters, the barren,
simplicity of Rebel Smile that leads nicely into the strong, synth
dominated closer Black Moon Lake (the song that I really think the band
shows who THEY are) – and are headed in the right direction and when
you dive in you notice that instead of the taught percussion and
surging melodies you expect from The National, MFM opts for cloudier,
bleaker sounds that never try for the staggering heights or intimate
confessionals you might expect...you can’t help but think this isn’t
the last time you will hear about Murder Ford Monument on herohill...."
MECHANICAL SOUND LIVE REVIEW AT PITTER PATTER
"With dramatic, carefully sculpted guitar parts and a smart sense
for dynamics, the band's songs built up into some crafty little
maelstroms.... the band played pretty intensely for a sparse crowd.
Certainly worth keeping an eye on."
VOIR
"Au chant ténébreux de Jesse LeGalais, lequel rappelle énormément
celui d'un Matt Beninger (The National), le groupe ajoute d'agréables
courtepointes de pianos et de cuivres, puis secoue le tout à coups de
guitares et d'orgues «fuzzés» à souhait..."
THE HOUR
"With a name change comes new life. Montreal indie rock darlings
Archipelagos, torchers of numerous stages around this town since 2007,
have rechristened themselves Murder Ford Monument, and this is their
debut. The nine-song album draws on the darker, more sinister elements
of pop/new wave, with keyboards hovering like a cool afterthought
between your stereo speakers, all the while blazing guitars and a punch
drunk rhythm section slap each other silly. Dig, if you will, the
killer horns on The Hills Were on Fire. Good stuff if you can get it,
so go get it. "
THE MIRROR
"This Montreal five-piece meanders and explores the vast terrains of
country-inflected rock on their debut, yet prove capable of rising to
the occasion during a few sublime instrumental high points. "