Dream come true

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/10/2015 (3945 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At the relatively young age of 24, Cole Woods and Alannah Walker of Winnipeg indie-pop duo the Cannon Bros. have solidified a career of which many musicians would be jealous.

Since forming in 2009, the best friends have released an EP and a sparkling full-length, 2011’s Firecracker/Cloudglow, which earned them a Polaris Music Prize nomination and thrust them into the national spotlight.

Then, things went quiet for a bit while they secretly sat on a massive collection of songs, each taking time to work with other bands (Woods plays with numerous local acts; Walker is part of rock/punk outfit Departures).

Now they are ready to return with their sophomore effort, Dream City.

It’s a mammoth album, boasting 19 tracks, though very few of them extend past the three-minute mark. Each little pop nugget packs a punch; there is no wasted space, no drawn-out droning.

“We both just really like to-the-point pop music,” explains Woods, who shares vocal, drums and guitar duties with Walker.

The tunes may be short, but they’re not unsatisfying; Woods and Walker have expanded their musical range past just the guitar and drums to create a full-band sound, executing dense yet intricate melodies not possible with their past setup.

“On our first album, we kind of just kept it a two-piece sound for the most part; this one, there’s definitely more layers. We wanted to try something different,” says Woods.

Cannon Bros. recorded the new album with engineer and friend Cam Loeppky, who has worked with local music elite such as the Weakerthans and Imaginary Cities, and with whom they also worked with on Firecracker/Cloudglow.

“He kinda gets it; he gets where we’re coming from,” says Woods of Loeppky. “He likes the same music as us and we have a relationship with him now — it’s a lot more comfortable.”

The album has essentially been finished for about two years, but Woods and Walker decided to hold off on releasing it. The time away from the songs turned out to be beneficial, says Woods, almost like a palate-cleanser before the final tweaks.

“It’s nice to come back and listen to things with fresh ears. I’m pretty proud of all the songs on the album; it’s pretty solid all the way through,” says Woods.

Asked if the band felt pressure to produce a second full-length that lives up to the success of their first, Woods merely chuckles and says, “Not really.”

“We just do what we do,” he adds. “We got long-listed for the Polaris prize, but I don’t really think that means all that much. I don’t really think about that, but I do still hope people like it.”

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @NireRabel