El Coyote

It all started as a Friday night kitchen song-swapping session between friends to get through Montreal’s never-ending winter, and eventually led to the creation of their self-produced, self-titled album. For a first release, this alt-country-folk, Nashville influenced Canadiana band sound as if they have been playing together for years. And much of that is true. Guitarist Mike O’Brien seems to be the common thread, having worked alongside Angela Desveaux (Yonder Hill) since 2007, Katie Moore (Socalled, Yonder Hill) since 2008 and Michelle Tompkins (Sin & Swoon) since 2009. Andrew Horton (Katie Moore, Firemen, Notre Dame de Grass) is on upright bass and vocals, while Joe Grass (Patrick Watson, KLAUS) is on pedal steel and dobro. With a line up this superb, it’s only natural that they’ve created a sound that is rich and lasting, classic and most importantly, honest. With songs of small-town affairs, wayfaring love, choices and toiling away at the local grind, one would never guess that they call Montreal home. But Montreal was the perfect meeting place for these members who hail from the Okanagan Valley, Alberta, Ottawa Valley, Moncton, Antigonish and Cheticamp.
What stands out most with El Coyote is just how undemanding their sound is. Recorded and mixed by Gilles Castilloux at The Treatment Room, the songs were written by Tompkins, Desveaux and Moore, adding a natural variety uncommonly found in most releases. “By The Gate,” told through Moore’s awe- inspiring vibrato, sounds as if it could have been written somewhere on the Isle of Skye in the late 18c. Desveaux’s duet with Horton, “Another Day,” a coming to terms with the realities of commitment, evokes an intimacy with her golden voice that instantly heals upon first listen. “Lighten up Diane” opens with O’Brien’s effortless cascading guitar and features Tompkins’ trademark low alto in a sobering story of disillusionment about the loss of time you can never get back. The music’s real strength, however, lies in the harmonies, which braid effortlessly and are arranged to reflect the various moods of the album. From the catchy opening track “Come Around” to the sudden snare snap delivery by David Payant on the honky tonk “Tip Jar” to the dreamy yet driven “Leaving Thunder,” this collection of songs, along with the musicians who pay such close attention to detail, are what make this record what it is: an impressive display of a band who never over plays and serves only the song.