Estan
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Estan

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | SELF

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | SELF
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"Mirror Music Reviews"

"Recalling the most nerdish oddities of the 90s, local omni-instrumentalist Estan Beedell has a firm grasp on his own offbeat, hospitable alternative rock handle, but delivers what could have come across as a simple revisiting by expertly combining the complex with the catchy. Take a layered song like “Cocoon,” which zips from girl group harmonies to a horn solo to a pitch-perfect classic-era Weezer rock-out in a perfectly logical manner." 7.5/10 Trial Track: “Retirement Home” (Erik Leijon) - Montreal Mirror


"Estan Beedell: the 22 year-old man behind the music"

Estan Beedell: the 22 year-old man behind music
On Friday, July 8th, 2011 1 Comment | By admin
by Kelly Hurcomb

Estan Beedell is a talented singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist with two albums under his belt and one in the works. So, why is this 22 year-old Montreal via Ottawa virtuoso virtually unknown? Perhaps it is partially due to lending his musical talents to notable group efforts for the past few years, drumming in fellow singer-songwriter Simon Beach’s backing band the Front Teeth, as well as serving as a guitarist/bassist in Montreal indie group Sheep Men, whose music will be featured in the upcoming season of Degrassi.

While Beedell’s first passion is creating and producing his own music, the notion of endlessly promoting himself isn’t a huge point of interest. While he has personally handed his work to influential Montreal group the Arcade Fire, he hasn’t quite made a name for himself in the city just yet. “I don’t take advantage of all of the opportunities Montreal has to offer as I should,” explains Beedell.“I should promote myself more and tap into all these great resources and integrate myself into the music scene.”

Despite his relatively let go attitude towards self-promotion, ambitious barely begins to describe Beedell’s musical pursuits. While his more ‘casual’ projects have included singing in award winning barbershop quartet Gibbe and the Supertonics to composing string quartets for musicians twice his age; he dedicates the majority of his talents to writing and recording pop music. His two most recent efforts, 2008’s Happy Growing and the forthcoming Distract Engage push the sonic boundaries of pop music by refusing to adhere to any distinct formula and incorporating aspects of the various genres and artists that inspire him.

Being a classically trained musician has had significant impact on the way he writes out of the ordinary pop songs.“With classical music, you normally have a lot more of a progression, it’ll be five minutes before you come back to the same theme or whatever, he says, whereas with pop music you’ve got a five second theme that gets looped for three and a half minutes. I try to draw elements both.”

The influence of classical progression combined with indie-pop sensibilities, stadium rock grandeur, Beach Boy-esque harmonies and Eurocentric synthesized sounds make Estan Beedell’s albums sound completely unique, at once accessible and un-definable. With the proper promotion, these elements should make him an absolute standout in the lagging post-Arcade Fire Montreal indie music scene.

While Beedell’s music differs sonically from its indie-pop predecessors, the recurring themes in his work are universal. On his latest album, Beedell’s lyrics focus on contemplating his own mortality, as well as how humankind manages to lives day-to-day knowing they will eventually perish. This specific focus makes for an album that’s far more intimate and introspective than anything he has released thus far.“The title [of the album] is Distract Engage, he continues. My idea was kind of that the whole greatness of life comes when you forget that you’re alive because you’re so engrossed in something interesting. Life would suck if we were just counting down the days until dying; we totally forget that we’re all heading in that direction when we’re (this is gonna be cheesy) Distracted and Engaged!”

Notable fans of Beedell’s include Canadian singer-songwriter Jim Bryson and space-folk band the Orienteers. Distract Engage is scheduled for a late summer release, but you can check out tracks from the album, as well as some of his earlier work, at www.myspace.com/songsbyestan .
- MadlyJuicy.com


Discography

Happy Growing (2008) LP

Space Train (2010) LP

Distract Engage (2011) LP

Tracks can be streamed at:

www.estan.bandcamp.com

and

www.myspace.com/songsbyestan

Photos

Bio

“...Classical progression combined with indie-pop sensibilities, stadium rock grandeur, Beach Boy-esque harmonies and Eurocentric synthesized sounds make Estan Beedell’s albums sound completely unique, at once accessible and un-definable.” ('Estan Beedell: the 22 year-old man behind the music' by Kelly Hurcomb – madlyjuicy.com)

For the past few years, Estan Beedell has been gaining ground in both the Montreal and Ottawa music scenes for his unique blend of sonic complexities with straight up indie rock.

His debut album, Happy Growing, was an ambitiously constructed effort that drew positive reviews, calling on influences ranging from Radiohead's In Rainbows to Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, and sparking interest from columnists such as The Ottawa Arts Newsletter's Jessica Ruano who dubbed it “incredibly diverse, ranging from something that sounds like tribal chanting, to cheerful pop tunes, to sensitive instrumental goodness.”

In December of 2011, Beedell captured even greater praise from fans and critics alike with the release of his latest album, Distract Engage. Erik Leijon, in a review for the Montreal Mirror, described it as “recalling the most nerdish oddities of the 90s...expertly combining the complex with the catchy”, stamping the album with a respectable 7.5/10.

A pop record echoing not only the classical dimensions of Owen Pallett's Heartland, but the epic-rock perspective of an early Weezer, Beedell has now taken Distract Engage to the stage. With a diverse backup band in tow, Estan has furthered his ambitions and has made it his goal to strike new listeners with an unshakeable live-performance. Playing this winter in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, Estan is looking to take to the road this summer and continue to tour in support of his new album.