Familiars Premiere “Erebus & Terror” Video; Keep the Good Times Rolling EP Out Today
Posted in Bootleg Theater on April 7th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Today, April 7, Toronto-based atmospheric fuzz rockers Familiars unveil their new three-song EP, Keep the Good Times Rolling, and if the title seems ironic or tongue-in-cheek, yeah, it probably is. However, for the trio of guitarist/vocalist Kevin Vansteenkiste, bassist/vocalist Jared MacIntyre and drummer Anton Babych, it’s also a three-years-later, three-song companion-piece to their 2020 debut full-length, All in Good Time (review here), which met the existential crisis of that year’s tumultuous Spring with lush melody and dug-in tonal breadth, cohesive melody and purposeful craft such that even the low-rumble punch of the bass-led “Barn Burning” was somehow mellow in its overarching affect. To bottom-line it: cool record, definitely not gonna complain about more from a band who’ve obviously put some work into their sound, style and songs.
Keep the Good Times Rolling — and yeah, three years later, the ‘keep’ in the title raises an eyebrow no less than ‘good times’ for its notions of momentum post-debut; there’s a reason most album cycles happen around the albums in question, though spacetime seemed to crease that Spring, so maybe in some dimension we’re still there, and in any case, why argue? — presents three tunes recorded once again by Simon Larochette that end up giving an efficient showcase for at least some portion of what Familiars accomplished on the longer release. One doesn’t want to read too much narrative into an outing that’s 14 minutes long and a band who put out their record after at least six years together, but Familiars were right to take their time in making the LP happen and Keep the Good Times Rolling comes across much the same.
It is melodically thoughtful in its three cuts between four and a half and five minutes long, the opening “Erebus & Terror” (video premiering below) reveling in its vocal echo over ranging fuzz, Babych‘s hi-hat active but not so much as to take away from the soothing spirit that prevails, while centerpiece
“Samsquanch” — a Trailer Park Boys reference, because Canada — offers a more uptempo chug at its core, tonally nodding toward Mania-era Truckfighters with twists that remind of the build in the Swedes’ “Last Curfew” while Vansteenkiste‘s breathy vocal take in the early going wouldn’t be out of place in brooding ’80s synthpop. That’s a compliment, and results in a fairly individual impression coming off the rolling Canadian landscape and crunch of “Erebus & Terror” — and yes, I know Mt. Erebus is in Antarctica; it’s cold there too — as whatever, ahem, familiar elements surround, the band work to establish their own context for them.
“Samsquanch” is instrumental from about the two-minute mark onward, and caps with an airy guitar lead over the still-laid-back groove, while “Wendigo” picks up at a faster-but-still-mellow clip with classic heavy flourish as it moves toward the tension-release of the slowdown in its second half, which fades out as one might imagine folkloric monsters receding into darkness, though admittedly the actual sound of the track is more sunlight-reflecting-on-snow than mysterious-figure-in-the-dark in terms of the mood being set. In keeping with the current boom of Canadian heavy, Familiars offer refreshing perspective on genre tenets and demonstrate a malleable balance between hooky rhythms and world-building that goes beyond the relatively brief runtime of this outing.
Whatever they do next — two-songer, EP, LP, etc. — their aesthetic proves immersive without letting itself get lost as it guides the listener through the material; storytelling as much in music as words. Keep the Good Times Rolling might have a tinge of sarcasm to its title, but in its roll and its being a good time, it lives up to the promise as well. One doesn’t generally think of bands who’ve been around for nearly a decade as ‘loaded with potential,’ and yet here we are.
The video premiering here for “Erebus & Terror” is duly stark in its grainy Antarctic footage, gorgeous and ancient in its threat, and the entirety of Keep the Good Times Rolling is streaming near the bottom of this post, in case you’d like to do precisely that.
Please enjoy:
Familiars, “Erebus & Terror” official video
On April 7th, Familiars will release “Keep The Good Times Rolling”, a continuation of stories and sounds captured during the “All In Good Time” sessions.
Tracklisting:
1. Erebus & Terror
2. Samsquanch
3. Wendigo
Produced by Familiars & Simon Larochette
Engineered & Mixed by Simon Larochette at The Sugar Shack Recording Studio in London, Ontario, Canada.
Mastered by Gavin Gardiner
Simon Larochette: Additional Percussion
Art Direction & Design by Kevin Vansteenkiste
Familiars are a Full Moon Records Recording Artist.
Written, Recorded, and Made in Canada.
Familiars are:
Kevin Vansteenkiste: Electric Guitar, Vocals
Jared MacIntyre: Electric Bass Guitar, Vocals
Anton Babych: Drums, Percussion
