Formed
in 2007, Short of Able is a product of the Edmonton indie music scene. Its members –
Justin Wisser (vocals/guitar), Devin Phillips (guitar), Narish Maharaj (bass),
and Colin Ouellette (percussion) – fell together through a mutual addiction to
live music. Though the band is influenced by many artists, Short of Able has
developed its own brand of acoustic folk-pop rock that is less definable than
many bands.
Hang on, and we’ll
write our story.
The
band’s upcoming first full-length album titled “Far Away and Out of Sight” is
the culmination of over a year of songwriting and recording. Devin Phillips
says, “the album was written and recorded simultaneously over the past year.
Though we started recording at Norwood Studios, in the fall of 2010 we decided
to go completely independent and finish the album ourselves”. The decision to
record the remainder of the album was, as Colin Ouellette says “based on the
band wishing we could write and record at the same time, without time
pressures. With the resources available to us, that meant taking the project
into our own hands”. As Justin Wisser explains, “it really gave us the
opportunity to work on songs – and re-work and then work on them again until we
expressed the sound that we were after all along”.
The
band also explains that the recording process also involved a lot of feedback
from fans. “I’m not sure what other bands do, but for us it was really
important that, for the majority of the songs on the album, we wanted to test
them live before we could say it was album-ready”, says Justin Wisser.
“Performing the songs live gave us feedback from the crowd, but it also helped
the band figure out which songs we really loved”, says Narish Maharaj.
The scene has changed
but the scenery is still the same.
For
those seeking something real, “Far Away and Out of Sight” offers up an
addictive blend of pop-folk melodies (“Some Said” and “Sunshine”) to head-nodding
indie guitar rockers (“Blank Pages” and “Home”) to acoustic jam odysseys
(“Instrumental”). Though the album has real diversity, it is definitely stamped
with Short of Able’s brand. It is a no excuses offering of the band’s vision
for music. “We try to write the music that we love to listen to”, says Narish
Maharaj. “We aren’t a band that writes songs to accomplish some goal. The
accomplishment is the song itself”,
says Colin Ouellette.
The
album is available starting April 2, 2011.
The band will be hosting an official release party at the Haven Social
Club and has several upcoming promotional shows throughout the spring of 2011.
Go to www.facebook.com/shortofable and check them out!