Barons and Lengthy

Appearing May 2007

Barons and Lengthy
Get Out Goddamn City
By Jasmyn Burke

As this short EP begins and ends, it is the band’s ability to make catchy guitar riffs that grabs your attention. As Barons and Lengthy strut through each song, Get Out Goddamn City is like a fidgety lifeline, bouncing up and down in motion as the fast-paced guitar solos, which radiate a sense of urgency, are combusted with the shuddering, raspy vocals that accompany the four songs. In its entirety, the EP is a set of kind of similar-sounding songs but it’s a fun fusion of danceable music, a quality that’s always good when listening to pop rock. The four chic boys behind the tunes are obviously fans of good old rock’n’roll and it seems like they are honing a sound that the young kids could swing to while out gallivanting at night.

(www.baronsandlengthy.com) - Exclaim Magazine

[Appearing Online March 23, 2007]

Barons and Lengthy CD Release Show
Last night marked the release of the new EP Get Out Goddamn City from local indie band Barons and Lengthy at the Drake Underground. It also served as an epiphany to me, musically-- realizing just how revitalizing it was to hear bands like the three I heard last night playing for the love of the music and no other reason. Don't believe me? Barons and Lengthy were giving away 100 copies of their EP that night, and honestly I doubt that 100 people were there.

It's easy to get jaded doing what a music reviewer does, so once and a while it's a nice change to come upon bands that are out there playing because they love to play. No doubt they have other long term goals, but for that moment the goals were on the backburner.

It's not too often you get to throw the party and be the guests of honour, but on this night Barons and Lengthy were exactly that. They took the stage and began their set by playing Get Out Goddamn City verbatim. I've had the pleasure of having this for about a week now, and let me tell you, it could be the best five bucks you'll spend on music this year. After having spent many years of my life paying $20 and more for music, it's satisfying to get a high-calibre album for a fiver.

My favourite track has to be "Sarah" -- there's a killer build up that lets the band flex their instrumental muscles, so by the time Adrian's vocals kick in the stage is perfectly set. But that isn't the reason I like this song; it helps, but the overriding reason is the brilliantly-penned lyric of "The lines on her face will give a testament." And the "wooh-ooh-oohs" don't hurt either. Further proof how catchy they are was given to me in the washroom at the Drake, when a rather drunk Barons and Lengthy fan impersonated those woohs quite comically while taking a piss next to me. True story!

There seems to be a sentiment about Barons and Lengthy that they very much might sound like what the Libertines would have had Pete Doherty not become an incoherent crackhead. (I fucking love Pete Doherty and Babyshambles, but dude's a crackhead. I can't lie.) It's easy to see why previous music writers have seen that opening track "The Moving Song" could have easily passed as a Libertines track, and I mean this as a huge compliment as the Libertines are one of my favourites. A band has always done something well when they capture on record what makes them great live.

But let's not get over anxious with the Libertines comparison, because we aren't talking about a knock-off here. "Chase" would never have been recorded by the Libertines; it has more rock chops than those lads liked to dabble with. There will be many venues around the GTA filled with young people dancing to this addictive guitar work.

Later on, the band played through their back catalogue. I left with the last EP in the girlfriend's purse as well (again, five bucks!), so that should tell you what I thought of the older stuff.

All in all it was a great night: surprisingly talented openers topped off with a stellar performance by Barons and Lengthy. You ever get that feeling when you are at a show that you are excited to be there, but the band really is just going through the motions? I do, and it pisses me off. If you want to get the bad taste out of your mouth, check out an upcoming Barons and Lengthy show and you'll be cured. - Twowaymonologues.com

[Appearing Online April 07]

There are three downsides to Get Out Goddamn City, the new EP from Barons and Lengthy. The first is just that it doesn't have the advantage of coming out of nowhere and blowing me away with its awesomeness. This time, I went in fully expected to be dazzled by the band (who, after all, had blown my mind with their debut EP last August). Luckily, over the course of four tracks here, they proved themselves to be more than obliging by continuing the trend established by their last EP of being great.

Of course, this leads to the second downside: that Get Out Goddamn City has just four songs. I know that there's something to be said for economy, but, much like Who Killed Kaspar Hauser?, by the time the album's fifteen minutes are up, I'm left desperately wanting more. The way that frontman Adrian Traub-Rees so effortlessly makes it sound like Pete Doherty and Carl Barat have been rolled into a single individual is astonishing, and he does so without sounding as if he's going to nod off from taking one too many drugs. Even more astonishingly, Barons and Lengthy may be better this time around than they were last time; "Chace throws a bit of a Rolling Stones vibe into the mix, while "Bright" shows that the band isn't afraid to spend a minute or two to concentrate on developing a mood, rather than just pushing their music into the standard verse/chorus format. You could, I suppose, put the two CDs in sequence in your stereo (or set your iTunes up to do that), which brings B&L's output up to nine songs, but still; cumulatively, after listening to Who Killed Kaspar Hauser? and Get Out Goddamn City several times, I'm left feeling that if and when this band comes out with a proper full-length, it could be my favourite album of all time.

The last downside to this is album is just that, as far as I can tell, it's not available anywhere yet; their Myspace says they were giving it away at their CD release show last night, but it seems like the rest of the world is out of luck. This is unfortunate, since Barons and Lengthy have shown for the second time that they're the most promising band in Canada, and, consequently, Get Out Goddamn City is definitely an EP that should be heard (and owned) by lots and lots of people. - Iheartmusic.net

[Appearing August 17, 2006]

Originally, I'd written some long review comparing Barons and Lengthy to The Libertines, saying that the Toronto quartet's debut self-titled EP was the follow-up to Up The Bracket that never happened, a perfect mixture of gloriously ragged pop and teetering-on-the-edge-of-falling-apart vocals. Better still, it exists without subsequent ignominies to lessen its impact. In short, it's arguably the best EP of the year (with the "arguable" part only there because I haven't been able to stop listening to Tokyo Police Club since March, and there's no telling if I'll be similarly obsessed with Barons And Lengthy at Christmas).

But here's why I shortened the review: four-fifths of the album is available on Barons and Lengthy's Myspace. As such, it makes more sense to tell people to go there right now, and download songs like "You're Never Wrong" and "Valentina Seawall". Assuming Barons and Lengthy don't suddenly throw themselves wholeheartedly into heroin-fuelled mediocrity, this self-titled disc is probably the first blast of great music from a band that should produce a lot more of it, and it only makes sense to start listening to them now, before everyone else in the world is doing it, too. - Iheartmusic.net

[Appearing Dec 26, 2006]

3. Barons and Lengthy Self Titled EP

I said it back in August, and I'll say it again: Barons and Lengthy's Self-titled EP is the follow-up to The Libertines' self-titled debut that never happened, the one where Carl Barat and Pete Doherty curbed their animosity and their addictions and delivered an outstanding album from start to finish. Why Barons and Lengthy didn't get more attention as a result of this EP is beyond me, but in a just world it would've built more buzz around them than you could possibly imagine. Hopefully the follow-up EP, which is due out any time, will right that wrong.
- Iheartmusic.net

Barons and Lengthy seemingly couldn't quite decide between wanting to be an indie pop-rock band or an agitprop first-wave punk outfit. They were at their best inhabiting the latter; singer [Dan Bedard] conjured the ghost of Joe Strummer and led the crowd in a series of shout-along choruses that inspired vigorous dancing down front. They're already a blast to see live, and if they learn to play to their strengths, they'll soon find themselves rattling much larger venues' rafters. - Eye Weekly: Toronto