Best of 2009: #9 “Spirit Guides” by Evening Hymns
December 8, 2009
Evening Hymns
While speaking to a co-worker today, we came to the shared realization that not many new bands or really big surprise albums came out this year. In fact, I only may have two on my list, and here is one of them.
From my understanding, Jonas Bonnetta is the main creative force behind Evening Hymns. When I was first starting out as Music Director at CJAM in 2007, I still remember adding his album to our on-air library, but don’t remember being overly won over by it. I was probably still overwhelmed by the responsibilities of the job to really focus on remembering the finer details of every album I had to review. That was also nearly three years ago.
While reviewing Spirit Guides by Evening Hymns, I remember having an opposite reaction. One where I was so engaged by the music that I stopped focusing on my job. The loud/quiet dynamics of “Dead Deer” was probably the first song that caught my ear, and I also recall doing some toe-tapping or seat dancing while listening to “Broken Rifle.” With a warm voice that reminds me of Hayden, dare I politely say that discovering Evening Hymns made me forget about Hayden’s unspectacular album that came out this year?
If I had to form any complaint about Spirit Guides, it would be a slight adjustment to the tracklist. “November 1st, 2008, Lakefield, Ontario” is mostly an extended field recording of rainfall, and I would have ideally placed it at the end of the album. It tends to disrupt the flow of the album, and while I have listened to it in order to get to the final song on the album, in the future it will likely be a prime candidate for the skip button. Neko Case snuck a similar field recording of frogs onto the end of her latest album, and I think it worked more effectively.
Minor gripe aside, I’m happy to have this album in my collection and feel it will get a lot of listens over the years. My only regret is not being able to see Evening Hymns when they played in Windsor earlier this year.
