SUNFIELDS
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SUNFIELDS

Montréal, Quebec, Canada | SELF

Montréal, Quebec, Canada | SELF
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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"Spot The Groove"

Sunfields @Rancho Relaxo
01.29.10

I love those Friday nights after a long work week when plans suddenly come together on the fly. It was one of those evenings when I came across the melodic country/folk sounds of Sunfields at Rancho Relaxo, despite the bone marrow chilling temperature that night.

Sunfields is the brainchild of frontman and lead singer Jason Kent from the Dears. For a relatively new band, you could sense they’re experience and maturity as musicians. From their solid vocal harmonies, grassroots country guitars and a touch of pop, you couldn’t help but listen. Late in their set Jason put on an incredible trio piano set of melodic ballads that had a lot of potential to be a crowd favourite. You could sense Neil Young, Wilco and Joel Plaskett in their music and couldn’t help but want to hear more.
Keep your eye out for these guys when they release their first album.

Sunfields myspace: http://www.myspace.com/sunfields
Top Tracks: “If it Be” and “In the Sun” - Robb


"It's All Fun and Games Untill Someone Loses an Eye"

What an Easter Monday night! I went to Club Il Motore on Jean Talon to see Deer Tick and arrived at 9:30 for an 8:00 show. There were two opening acts that I’d hoped to avoid, since I’d never heard of them. To my chagrin, the first band had not even taken the stage. What a blessing in disguise. I spent the next three and a half hours in Rock n’ Roll bliss.

The first band to take the stage was The Sunfields, a recently formed local act from Montreal. Fronted by charismatic Jason Kent (formerly of The Dears), this band had everyone in the club paying rapt attention. The fact that these guys remain unsigned, can only be temporary. They played an inspired set that reminded me of Neil Young, C.C.R., and The Band. They have warm, fuzzy and distorted guitar riffs reminiscent of Cowgirl In the Sand. The keyboards would make Garth Hudson and the late Richard Manuel smile, and they can quickly change gears to come at you with southern sounds and lyrics typical of John Fogerty. Their new album, Palace In The Sun is ready and due for release this fall. Visit them at : www.myspace.com/sunfields

Written by: Dave Jackson
- Mitch Melnick Music Blog


"Kent: Like A Blast Of '70's fresh Air"

by Alan Wigney
14/2/07

There's something oh so familiar about Jason Kent's self-titled solo debut. Many things, in fact. Many, and varied. And with each finely crafted original composition, those things hit the listener almost from the opening chord.
Take, for instance, the dissonant, open-tuned chord that sets the scene for the driving Any Old Day. Why, we haven't heard that chord since Led Zeppelin's acoustic gem Friends. And then there's the echoey goodness of Slowly Dive in Love. Kinda reminds one of John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band anthem mission-statement, Mother. The soulful sound at the heart of the harmony-drenched Back in Me, meanwhile, would sound at home on Fleetwood Mac's Rumours. Elsewhere, we're treated to gentle odes to California, going to the country and "listening to the radio all night."
Sounds like that 1970s golden-age-of-singer-songwriters siren has claimed another victim. Never mind The Police, here's Jackson Browne/James Taylor/America/Neil Young and Crazy Horse.
Especially Neil Young and Crazy Horse, of course. Jason Kent can be safely placed in rotation on your CD player, next to Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. Or, as Kent has stated, somewhere between The Beatles, Neil Young and Air.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just ask Conor 'Bright Eyes' Oberst or Jason Collett, or any of a growing number of artists turning to a bygone, idyllic Laurel Canyon-dwelling age for inspiration.
"I'm not the only warrior in this battle," Kent says. "And I still have a long way to go." A long way forward?
Or a long way back?
"I'm not trying to live in the past," Kent insists. "I want to make something that's my own. But I do turn to that time for inspiration. I find that people just aren't as passionate in today's music. I always had this naive philosophy that people used to listen to jazz and lounge music growing up, rather than rock music, and were therefore less limited.
"I don't know about that, now. But there was also something honest about those recordings, that you don't hear now. And it came in part from the fact that mistakes were often left in, for the sake of completing a recording. Today, you have the ability to make everything too perfect. I'm guilty of it, too."
That's because Kent is not living in the past. And it should be stated the only thing retro about Jason Kent is the album's approach to crafting the perfect pop song. In that respect, one can hang a 'mission accomplished' banner on a beauty like Any Old Day.

The Montreal-based Kent's own past includes stints with Bodega, The Sonny Best Band and Soft Canyon, all of whom wear their influences on their sleeves. He's still a member in good standing of SBB, and has recruited members of Soft Canyon for his live shows. (Kent handled the bulk of the instrumentation on his self-titled disc.)

"It's all been a learning experience," Kent says of his varied musical background. "From Soft Canyon, I learned to play keyboards live. With The Sonny Best Band I've been able to hone my guitar skills. Playing with Bodega gave me the confidence to step out on my own."

Since stepping out last fall with Jason Kent, the singer-songwriter has been slowly building a following, both here and overseas. A U.K. tour last October, he says, "opened a lot of doors." Plans are afoot to release the album in England, and a return visit is slated for June. "I've been going to England since I was nine," he says of his connection to the U.K. "My mom works for Air Canada." That connection will likely also help Kent to spread the word on this continent, and on the West Coast in particular. Though, in many ways, he is already there. --- SCENE SETTER Jason Kent Band with North of Summer
Where: Avant-Garde, 135 Besserer St. - When: Saturday, 9 p.m. - OTTAWA SUN


"Canyon Con: Montreal's Jason Kent steps to the centre stage"

by Lorraine Carpenter
23//11/06

A musician who fesses up to their new record’s game plan is rarer than a palm tree in Petawawa. Of course, not every record is the result of preconception, but for some reason, nothing rubs a musician the wrong way like the inference that theirs was. It amuses me to hear defences go up and gauntlets come off—luckily, most of my interviews are phoners. But Jason Kent, of the Sonny Best Band, the John Lennox band and Bodega, slapped me with sheer honesty instead.

“I was sort of going for something between the Beatles and Neil Young and Air, somewhere just teetering on all three of them,” says Kent of his self-titled solo debut, available exclusively at this weekend’s CD launch. “That song from The Virgin Suicides, ‘Playground Love’—I’ve re-written that song about five times. I’m still rewriting it, actually.”

Shocking. And if “Any Old Day” is any indication, Kent is almost as fond of Iggy Pop’s “Nightclubbing.” It may not be entirely novel, but his country-coated, acid-laced pop is unique in its ambiance and eclectic scope, demonstrated in disparate songs like the tender, tranquil “Midnight Love” and the near-funky “Back in Me.” Kent’s experience shines through everything from his soothing vocals, often in harmony with Angela Desveaux, to his dewy keyboards and crisp guitars. On stage, Kent will be backed by Phil Burns, Dave Lavoie, Jason Beverage and Jason Bratberg (all but Beverage are fellow alumni of Soft Canyon), but he handled most of the instruments on the record himself.

Lyrically, Kent’s subject matter is as warm and familiar as some of his melodies. Love, loss and Americana dominate his compositions, and he has the dubious distinction of being the fifth Canadian in recent memory to pen a song called “California” (the other four being Rufus Wainwright, Sara Slean, Wave and the Moffats).

“I felt really cheesy doing it, and I got a bit of heat from a couple of friends, you know, ‘I can’t believe you’re writing about California, why not Manitoba?’ (singing) ‘Oh, Manitoba,’ ‘Oh, Nova Scotia.’ I tried other American states like Pennsylvania and North Dakota and Carolina, but [California] was just right. It’s sort of a sunny song, and you always associate sunny times and happy times with California. It’s a real romantic place.”

As long as you steer clear of all the gun-toting, knife-wielding celebrities, gangland drive-bys, high-speed car chases, messianic death cults and mercenary robot governors, of course. Kent chose to voice a more idealized vision of California, perhaps hearkening back to more innocent times. But if he’d had it his way, he wouldn’t have voiced it himself.

“I don’t know if I should say this, but it was basically written for Neil Young to sing,” he says. “My ultimate album would be to have him sing that song, and Beck would sing a song, ‘Setting Hearts,’ which is more a reflection of Beck than trying to rip him off. I’d also have Leonard Cohen sing a song. But this one’s for Neil. Thing is, it’s very difficult to get in touch with Neil Young.”

CD launch with Caroline Glass at O Patro Vys
on Saturday, Nov. 25, 11 p.m.

- MONTREAL MIRROR


"Jason Kent Album Review"

by Dave Jaffer
23/11/06

Jason Kent - (Independent)

The most instantly enjoyable track on this strong debut from another of Montreal's as-of-yet undiscovered sons is Back in Me, whose disco-y undertones only enhance the song's groovy sex appeal. However, don't let that description speak for the rest of this disc, which, while bouncing all over the rock map, seems most comfortable in that lazy, hazy, mellow, daydreamy place best accompanied by warm sun, silence and reflection. Given today's climate, it's downright ballsy to release an album like this, which is unabashedly the product of an uncompromising artist enamoured of the brilliance and boldness of simplicity.

3.5/5

- THE HOUR


"Jason Kent: So Familiar"

by Marc Soucy
3/21/07

The press is calling Jason Kent familiar and they're right. Kent sounds like a voice you've been acquainted with for years.

He is a familiar face that you've seen around the city. In one instant he is a wallflower, the boy next door and in the next, an alluring spark with an audacious smile.

His sound is a warm fresh '70s breeze echoing only the greats. He's created a comfort zone with a folk-rock base and country trimmings in psychedelic shades. Kent borrows from history and builds a future with his solo debut. He's in his element and will pull you in. Even in simple conversation.

"Have you ever seen The Big Chill?
It's a great film, if anything just for the soundtrack. It has Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, the Rascals; all these great bands from the '60s. It's a soundtrack I grew up to."

You grew up here in Montreal, born and raised, right?

"Right here at the Royal Vic. There was even an audience. I was very much alert, kicked the nurse, I was ready to go and happy to live! [Laughs] I lived in Hudson outside Montreal. But Montreal is Montreal, Toronto never crossed my mind. A lot of my musician friends moved and did the whole Toronto thing."

You've played with many musicians and in different bands like, Soft Canyon, the Sonny Best Band, Bodega and now you decided to go solo? Why now?

"I wanted to do my own thing five years ago, but I wasn't really ready. If you heard the album I had ready five years ago, we might not be talking. "[Laughs]

I was always doing what I wanted to do, just with very many people. When Soft Canyon broke up I thought, "Well I have this time now, what should I do with it?"

So here we are with your self-titled solo debut, was it a D.I.Y. effort?

"Pretty much. There are a few other players on the album that I'm very thankful for. It can be nice not having to rely on other people, but at the same time you're losing that human touch when you do it all yourself."

Looking into the album, can you tell us about your song "Midnight Love"?

"If you heard the first version you wouldn't recognize it. It was very cold, very bleak. I reworked it and it became what it is now, I suppose an Air rip-off. I fell in love with The Virgin Suicides Soundtrack. [Some] think it's a big drug oriented song. I didn't think of it that way. It's very innocent, the sky, and the stars. Like a little prince imagery in my head."

"Any Old Day" stands out on the album. It comes across a little different than the other songs.

"Any Old Day" is different. This song was more of a vibe thing. I started out recording a riff over and over. At first I didn't have any words written out at all. Now it sounds like a really sexual song: "I went looking for your sweet loving and found it all the way down." It's very unlike me. I tend to write more thoughtful songs. I don't write ambiguous, weird, let loose songs. You know, it's a rip-off of Led Zeppelin and Iggy Pop.

You're very influenced by the 60s and 70s.

"I love the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison and the whole tragedy about him. I love the sound of the snares in the 70s, some great music. People in the 60s and 70s seemed to have a better vocal range, write better songs and they seem more inspired."

What current musicians are you listening to?

My business is music so I should be more in touch with today's music, but when you start making albums I guess you get a little na've to what's going on. I'm not too familiar with all the bands going on today, but naturally the bands that come to mind are Radiohead, Wilco and Sparklehorse. What's good these days? What about these kids that are all over - they have their photos in HMV's window?

Fall Out Boy?

"Yeah! Fall Out Boy! I can't get into them. I have aesthetic issues with the way they look! So if you've seen their poster, then you've seen mine. Next door at Fido, the guy smiling with the dog, that's me!" [Laughs]

Oh, I think we've all seen those Fido ads. When did you start modelling and working in advertising?

"I started two years ago. I first auditioned for a Budweiser ad. They were casting for a rock star who plays guitar. So I got it! They posted 36 stills of me on metro cars. My legs were so sore from jumping and posing. But when they told me how much they'd pay, I didn't care how my thighs were feeling!"

Speaking of feelings, it must feel good to take your music overseas and you will be again soon. What do you like about playing in the UK and cities like London?

"Yes! It's very different. One thing about playing in London is you can play Monday through Friday and still have a different audience every night. London is so exciting, so much history and music. So many great bands came from London. Going to London is just me wanting to fulfill a small little dream. Going back in June is like a better, bigger dream. I'm just trying to make things happen."

Jason Kent plays with the Autumn Defense (members of Wilco) at - THE CONCORDIAN


"Jason Kent Album Review 2"

June 2007

Jason Kent
Self-Titled (Independent)

Ok Jason, please admit it...you have a glistening hardon for the Beatles. You have a John Lennon Complex. The Lennonesque cover art betrays you. The first Chokingly maudlin track, "Midnight Love" even has king harmonized flutes (strawberry fields you fucker?), a mellotron, and ye olde Beatles chord progressions. Not content with raping the Beatles, the very next track basically fucks Neil Young in the ass, but good!
5/5 - RAGE MONTREAL


Discography

Palace In The Sun / Released August 2010, Field Recordings.

Photos

Bio

Montreal natives Sunfields are the brain child of Jason Kent.
Recording for their debut, Palace in the Sun, began in the fall of 2007 in the tiny rural village of Pitsford, located some sixty miles north of London England, and was completed in their home studio in Hudson, Quebec in the spring of 2010 (recording was put on hold in 2008 when Jason joined The Dears for a solid year of touring on lead guitar and vocals). Songs lean heavily on imagery, with disarming melodies and moody instrumentation. The album is laden with howling organs, rackety pianos, crackling amplifiers, haunting harmonies, tape hiss, saturated synths, glistening guitars, hurling horns…

They spent their early years rummaging through their parents old record collection absorbing all the sounds an songs they could. After years of listening, writing and recording, they came up with 'Palace In The Sun'.
Recording for their debut began in a small cottage some sixty miles north of London England in the winter of 2008 and was completed in the Spring of 2010 in their own home studio in Montreal.

'Palace In The Sun' was released in the summer of 2010 sand was toured extensively throughout Canada and the U.K.
Here comes the Sun...