arts / 10

Ryan Hemsworth resists pop music
with ‘Alone for the First Time’

» This recent Juno winner hasn't let success change his aesthetic

Beau Bridge
The Peak (NUW)

yan Hemsworth’s 2014
elease, Alone for the First

Time, maintains his trademark
eight-bit, intimate bedroom
electronica that fans have come
to love, while simultaneously
painting a more personal
picture of the artist than
previous releases.

Winning Electronic Album
of the Year at the Juno Awards
in April has not affected
Hemsworth’s style.

“The Juno has helped with

 

regards to recognition, but the
music itself is not reflected

by it so to speak,” Hemsworth

says over the phone on a quiet
morning in Toronto.

As the album opener,
“Hurt Me,” begins with a lovely
synth-string melody that
reflects those sentimental
soundtracks of video games like
Final Fantasy, you find yourself
immediately pulled into a
space that is simultaneously
wondrous, yet lonely and

somber. Fans will find it a lot
: quieter than his previously

: R&B, pop-melody inspired Guilt :
: Trips, and frankly, that is not a
: bad thing.

As the glockenspiel and

xylophone samples drive over

: sustained fuzz synths in tracks
: like “Snow In Newark” and

: “Blemish,” there is a sense of

: self-reflective comfort that

: could be equalled to wrapping
: yourself up in a blanket ona

: cold winter day. Aside from

: the vulnerably voiced choruses
: that plead for lost love in “Walk :
: pieces of a live drum kit that

: T’ll mesh together,’ explained

Me Home’ and “Surrounded,”

: Hemsworh is capable of
: producing a surprisingly human :
: feel that tends to be difficult to:
find in electronic music.

“Other than the fact

: that this album was mostly
produced by myself in dark

: hotel rooms, I try to add some
: live instrumentation in to add
: that humanistic quality—the

: guitar in ‘Blemish’ was me

: playing guitar and some of the

drum samples are complicated

Hemsworth.
The lonely, vulnerable

: aesthetic of Alone for the First
: Time is ironically unexpected.

: Winning a Juno Award is

: arguably the Canadian
equivalent of winning a

: Grammy, which any young,

: up-and-coming artist would

: likely want to reflect on in their

 

Shelf Indulgence:

As she sews...

» “The Incomparables’ book review

Joshua Grant
Senior Columnist

00000

Coon novels grab you right away with
strong, specific detail, forcing you
into the head of a relatable character.
Such novels are easy to fall in love with.
Alexandra Leggat’s The Incomparables
is not one of those novels. Its surface is

resistant at first, and difficult throughout.
The Incomparables follows Lydia,
a theatre costumer who is freshly
unemployed, split from her husband, and
returned to her family home, which is
now a small-town bed and breakfast run
by her mother. She’s used her art to take
revenge on her unfaithful ex and lost her
job because of it. Now shamed, she swears
never to sew again, but the guests at her
mother’s B&B, a mysterious group known
as “the Counsellors,” have other ideas,
and she soon finds herself caught up in
the preparations for a bizarre wedding
ceremony, involving a mysterious masked

bride.

This is a dense novel that should

not be read quickly. Leggat’s attention
: to detail—particularly tactile detail—is

extraordinary, and some sections leap

out and come to life only on careful
reading. It’s also an immensely frustrating,
restricting read, as we spend the novel
firmly stuck in the head of Lydia, who

: is never very sure of what’s going on,

: distracted and haunted by everything,

: and caught up in the tactile, almost to

: exclusion. This is a bold choice on the part
: of the author, and it plays out consistently;
: after reading the book, you get the sense

: that you know how every surface in Lydia’s

life feels.

There’s a lot to get from The

Incomparables, but it’s not light, nor

: fun, and not terribly satisfying. The

: plot unfolds slowly, tortuously, and the

: characters seem to be invested with

: unrevealed secrets. Even Lydia is difficult
: to like until a flashback halfway through

: the book describes her theatrical, almost

comical, fall from grace.

As difficult as it is, the interesting

writing and odd plot make The
: Incomparables a worthy read—if you're
: willing to give it your full attention.

theotherpress.ca

: following album. However,

: these potentially boastful,

: “lean-towards-the-masses”
: undertones are significantly
: absent in Alone for the First
: Time.

“Becoming the biggest

: artist in the world is not really
: agoal to meas muchas it is to
: make my own work, and I get

: how people could react to this
: based on circumstance, but

: it’s just not something I really
: think about,” said Hemsworth.

The album does not intend

: to go against this recognition,

: but rather acts as an ineffectual
: nod to the circumstances that

: may naturally be forgotten as

: time goes on.

Alone for the First Time

proves that Hemsworth is still

: the awkward, vulnerable artist
: that fans have grown to love

: for his nostalgically warm,

: bedroom electronica. However,
: listeners will inevitably leave

: Alone for the First Time with

: a feeling that is equivalent to

: discovering a deer in the forest
: that flees before you even get to
: know what it’s truly all about.

ORE THAN READY

SET 3

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—
YEARS