Danger Pay

Geist performs Sunday at the Drum and Monkey.

It says a great deal when the interviewee is more prepared than the interviewer. About both.

Casting aside the negative light it shines on the latter for a moment - and possibly as some-thing of a feeble defence - per-haps it should be prefaced with the knowledge that rare is the instance when a subject shows up with notes.

Dan Wilson, though, is that unique case, as near the end of a 20 minute face-to-face, pint-to-pint, he produces a list of points that he and his bandmates in local act Geist wanted to make sure said interviewer was made aware of: the organic song-writing process, the close band dynamic, etc. But, again, it speaks greatly to how he and three mates approach what they do, the work ethic they put into the music that has been gradually winning over audiences in the area.

"People can tell when you care what you're doing. It comes through in the music," says Wilson noting that the professionalism and caring carries through from the rehearsal process to when they take the stage. "Even though musician isn't the best paid vocation out there, people are paying to see you so you should give them the respect to show them you care what you're doing, and give them something of quality."

The quality of the quartet - which also features Jeebs Nebil, Paul Beriault and Matthew Waites - can also be heard on their recently released debut Fissures, which they're set to tour after a show this Sunday at the Drum & Monkey.

It's a wickedly dreamy and off-kilter post-rock record that recalls everything from '90s shoegaze and influences such as Modest Mouse and Don Caballero to other local acts the members have been apart of and still perform in - in Wilson's case that includes the late Beija Flor. and Bikeland, and currently The Magnetic North and as part of his brother, Rae Spoon's, backing band.

The successful blending of all of those elements into one defined, utterly unique package that's as challenging as it is pleasing, Wilson says, is as much a part of that aforementioned band dynamic as it is the previously discussed relationship Geist has or hopes to have with the growing number of people it plays for.

"If we were just straight-ahead and fit a nice little niche, I think we would get bored of it. Maybe it's easier. We take a risk when we do something that's a bit more out there. But I think the point is just to meld the two together, because pop has its merits and when you mix that with aspects of other genres or aspects of other music it makes it interesting but it still has that accessibility," he says, noting that broader appeal may have had something to do with the Calgary 2012 grant which they'll use to tour with.

"It keeps the conversation with the audience going rather than sometimes bands can be guilty of having the conversation more with themselves - just wacky noise rock."

The actual words to that conversation, Wilson, as the chief songwriter, takes as much care with those as he does with the sonics, offering as lyrical influences more literary musicians such as Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen, who've taught him the importance of juxtaposing dark matter with lighter music.

Perhaps also at play is the fact that when he's not balancing the different bands in his life he works part time for the Calgary Public Library, or the fact that there are a number of English majors in his life - including girlfriend and band member Beriault - or even the fact that his sibling is getting set to release a debut book.

As for Wilson, his aspirations for the printed word are limited to those featured only in album packaging, and to tell the great Canadian song not the great Canadian novel.

"I've always been more interested in music," he says. "It takes over any other ambitions. It's what I need to do, it's what I want to do. It comes naturally."

With added preparation only helping.

mbell@calgaryherald.com - Calgary Herald - Mike Bell

Coming Soon - GEIST