The Diamond Roads

(COURTESY ENGLISH TRANSLATION FOUND BELOW FRENCH TEXT)

Passé sous le radar. Tombé dans les craques du plancher. Choisissez votre métaphore, et puis tout le monde danse la danse des négligés. Ce disque, bel exemple. Le premier d’un duo d’ici, Ian MacIntosh l’ancien Manitobain, Ryan Breithaupt l’ancienne Ontarienne, qui se sont réinventé une sorte de Delaney et Bonnie Bramlett du siècle neuf. C’est tout ce que j’aime du rock’n’folk, joué et chanté sans réinventer la roue, j’entends 50 ans de culture musicale intégrée, rafraîchie, vivante, avec des reprises cherchées loin, dont la psych-pop Ligthning’s Girl de Nancy Sinatra. C’est à l’insistance de la chanteuse elle-même (autopromo !), que j’ai écouté ce disque (autoproduit !), et ça ne quitte plus le lecteur de l’auto depuis (automatisme !). Cette voix qui charrie la vie (Cross my Heart), ces guitares pleines de saletés ramassées (Ghost on the Highway), ces mélodies qui mènent la machine à leur vitesse (Open Road), c’est de la musique pour aller jusqu’au bout des sentiments bruts. Bonne route. - Sylvain Cormier

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Slipped under the radar. Fallen through the cracks. Pick your metaphor; everyone’s danced that dance before. This album is a good example. It’s the first from Montréal-based duo Ian MacIntosh (originally from Manitoba) and Ryan Breithaupt (originally from Ontario), who have fashioned themselves a modern-day Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett. It’s everything I like about rock’n’folk, played and sung without reinventing the wheel. In it I hear 50 years of cohesive, refreshing, living musical culture, with covers cherry-picked from way back when, including the psych-pop Lightning’s Girl, originally by Nancy Sinatra. I gave this independently produced CD a listen on the singer’s insistence and it hasn’t left the car since! With a voice that breathes life (Cross my Heart), raunchy and unapologetic guitars (Ghost on the Highway) and driving melodies (Open Road), this is music that takes you to the root of raw feeling and back again. Enjoy the ride. - Sylvain Cormier - Le Devoir

Local Montreal folk-rock band The Diamond Roads kicked off this past April with the release of their eponymous debut album. What really work on this album are the literary narratives that thread the songs together; largely infused with natural imagery– dustbowls, hills and valleys, lightning storms – as well as allusions to childhood, aging, lovers lost, and dusty travels, they combine beautifully with the agile guitar work of lead guitarist Ian MacIntosh. The folk-infused, organic narratives are delivered by the startlingly powerful vocals of lead singer and band founder Ryan Breithaupt, who sounds distinctly like Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders.

At points, the album becomes less interesting, namely on a few of its tracks that veer towards being somewhat one-dimensional heartache ballads. Were I to characterize this album in four words, I’d call it great summer driving music. If that characterization is at all unclear, I’ll spell it out; it shines at moments, can get a little repetitive, but has exciting enough intros to give you a jolt at the start of each track (and keep you alert at the wheel), and nostalgic enough lyrics to make even the dustiest road seem a little more romantic through your windshield. Something about the stories Breithaupt spins makes you look at things around you with a sort of sepia washed fondness.

Praises, doubts, and musings aside, I cannot shower enough applause on one specific track – Darling Dears. I just put this one on my July playlist, and am looking forward to really wearing it out this month. The lyrics are sweet and sad, from the perspective of an old lady on her dying bed, surrounded by a sighing family. When Breithaupt coos “its so lovely you’re all here/don’t you miss me darling dears,” her voice achieves a certain soaring sweetness the likes of which I’ve only ever heard from Joni Mitchell.

Another really shining track is Open Roads, which heads in a really bluesy direction, Breithaupt’s voice taking on a slightly more throaty quality with her opening “we don’t want no trouble now.” This song heavily activates a sort of rugged western pioneering feel, with its images of dusty roads and open skies leading to promise lands. The brisk tempo set by a brushed snare on this track nicely moves it along; they do well when on the tracks that are faster moving and more fun – read: not their slower ballads – and this one avoids any such pitfalls.

To end on a sweet note, I urge you all to take a look at my favorite track – Darling Dears. It will likely charm you into giving the rest of the album a listen.

For a first album, The Diamond Roads shows promise for some sweet folk installments around Montreal in months to come. Keep your eyes on them.

-Hannah - Bloody Underrated

(COURTESY ENGLISH TRANSLATION FOUND BELOW FRENCH TEXT)

Après plusieurs années à donner des concerts dans des bars au sein de diverses formations folk et country, les deux meneurs de la formation The Diamond Roads, la chanteuse Ryan Catherine Breithaupt et le guitariste Ian McIntosh, lançaient leur premier album homonyme en avril dernier. Évoluant dans un registre que l’on pourrait qualifier d’alt-country, le groupe offre une mixture de rock, de folk, de country et est fortement influencé par les univers de Neko Case, Gillian Welch et Ryan Adams (période Whiskeytown).

Enregistré au studio Planet et réalisé par Mark Goodwin (Lazarus Moan, Little Birdie, Ffud, Jimmyriggers), The Diamond Roads est une production totalement indépendante… de haut niveau! C’est avec une surprise totale qu’on a découvert The Diamond Roads; un groupe d’un professionnalisme absolu!

À l’avant-plan, une chanteuse puissante, juste et éloquente qui représente l’âme des Diamond Roads, qui interprète ses chansons avec une véracité incontestable et dans ce genre musical, les demi-mesures sont à proscrire. Musicalement, The Diamond Roads bonifie ses initiatives sonores de cuivres, de mandoline, d’arrangements de cordes subtils, de Fender Rhodes, d’Hammond B3, de piano et d’accordéon; des éléments qui s’accordent parfaitement à la musique du duo Breithaupt/McIntosh.

En plus de ce alt-country-rock impeccable (parfois vintage) la réalisation de Goodwin est quasi parfaite; rien de moins. On se laisse prendre aisément par les indéniables aptitudes techniques du groupe, qui lui, appuie éloquemment l’impressionnante chanteuse; un travail de réalisation qui ne surclasse jamais les chansons du groupe. Un minuscule bémol fait son apparition à l’écoute de cette galette… C’est que vous voyez, ce band est tellement bon, qu’on leur souhaite d’aller se faire voir ailleurs, car Montréal n’est pas nécessairement un terreau fertile pour l’alt-country.

Ceci dit, The Diamond Roads propose une panoplie de ritournelles incassables. Que ce soit le folk-country écrit par Mark Goodwin titré Darling Dears, le rock cuivré Heel Toe Sway, la valse country-rock Hills And Valleys, la très Ryan Adams intitulée Cross My Heart, la frémissante Best They Could, l’explosive Ghost On The Highway (morceau composé par le musicien punk-blues Jeffrey Lee Pierce) , les superbes arrangements de claviers/cordes fertilisant sublimement Lightning’s Girl de Lee Hazelwood ainsi que le petit penchant soul de Come Home, vous ne pourrez résister à ce petit bijou d’album d’une simplicité désarmante… si vous êtes fanatiques du genre bien entendu!

Tout bien considéré, si vous avez envie de poser vos oreilles sur un disque de folk-country-rock mature de premier ordre, on vous conseille ce premier rejeton des Diamond Roads. On le répète, voilà un agréable cadeau sonore! Si ce groupe persiste, brouille un peu plus les pistes et abandonne le côté (à l’occasion) légèrement convenu de l’affaire, The Diamond Roads pourrait récolter sa juste part de gratitude. Un étonnant premier pas!
Ma note: 7,5/10

The Diamond Roads
The Diamond Roads
Indépendant
40 minutes
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The Diamond Roads – The Diamond Roads
June 5, 2014
By Stéphane Deslauriers

After having gigged in various folk and country bands over the years, the two founding members of The Diamond Roads, singer Ryan Catherine Breithaupt and guitarist Ian MacIntosh, launched their eponymous debut album in April 2014. Categorized most easily as alt-country, the group combines rock, folk and country influences, and is heavily influenced by artists Neko Case, Gillian Welch and Ryan Adams (Whiskeytown era).

Recorded at Planet Studios and produced by Mark Goodwin (Lazarus Moan, Little Birdie, Ffud, Jimmyriggers), The Diamond Roads is an entirely independent production… and entirely high-level. Discovering this utterly professional band was a complete surprise – and a pleasant one at that!

The Diamond Roads’ powerful vocalist is the heart and soul of the band. She interprets her songs with total authenticity and in this genre, there can be no half-way. Musically, The Diamond Roads amps up the production with horns, mandolin, subtle string arrangements, Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, piano and accordion; aspects that mesh perfectly with Breithaupt/MacIntosh’s music.

Goodwin’s production is near-perfect, nothing less, adding to this impeccable (and at times vintage sounding) alt-country-rock recording. The band’s technical skill draws you in and is a perfect complement to the remarkable singer; an impressive feat that manages to never overpower the songs themselves. A small misgiving becomes apparent while listening to this gem of an album; the band is so good, you really want to see them spread their wings elsewhere. After all, Montréal is not necessarily the most fertile ground for alt-country.

That said, The Diamond Roads offers a range of solid numbers. Whether it’s the folk-country-esque Darling Dears penned by Goodwin, the wailing horns on rocker Heel Toe Sway, the country-rock waltz of Hills and Valleys, the exceedingly Ryan Adams-inspired Cross My Heart, the shiver-inducing Best They Could, the urgency of Ghost On The Highway (composed by punk-blues hero Jeffrey Lee Pierce), the brilliant arrangement of keys and strings climaxing on Lightning’s Girl by Lee Hazlewood or the soul-inspired Come Home, resisting this album’s disarming simplicity is futile (especially if you’re a fan of the genre!).

All things considered, if you’re looking for a first-rate, mature folk-country-rock album, we recommend this initial offering from The Diamond Roads. We can’t say it enough, it’s a true gift for the ears! If this band keeps going, explores different paths and lets go of the (occasionally) slightly formulaic side of things, The Diamond Roads could reap their due. A fantastic first offering!

My grade: 7.5/10
The Diamond Roads
The Diamond Roads
Independent
40 minutes - Le Canal Auditif

The possibilities of rock ’n’ roll once seemed endless. Managing to be at once cool, forward-thinking and even popular, the style felt like it would last forever. A generation that claims it as its soundtrack could never have predicted it would become a niche.

But it has come to pass: contemporary artists who choose to release rock ’n’ roll albums must be in it strictly for the love of the music. As a simple exercise, think of today’s chart superstars and see how many rockers come to mind. And actual guitar-based roots rock ’n’ roll, with the heart, soul, twang and bar-band looseness implicit in the second half of the genre’s name? You can almost hear the tumbleweeds in the Top 100.

Seemingly indifferent to all that, The Diamond Roads simply play the music they love. And in the process, they have recorded a debut album filled with tracks that could sit quite nicely in a playlist that might also feature Creedence Clearwater Revival evergreens and Stax classics.

Apart from the highly engaging original compositions and inspired covers, the duo’s not-so-secret weapon is the industrial-strength voice of singer Ryan Breithaupt, 33, a London, Ont., native who landed in Montreal in 2001, transferring from the University of Western Ontario to Concordia University, where a major in translation — blended with her early French immersion in elementary and secondary school — facilitated her embracing of the city’s linguistic landscape.

Singer-guitarist Ian MacIntosh, 26, arrived from Winnipeg in 2008, also with some cultural preparation: his Québécoise mother had insisted he attend French immersion in St-Boniface. “My tongue was not trained to speak French very well, but I understood it very well,” he said during a recent interview. Some work in the service industry — including time as a bartender — have provided valuable practice, he said.

MacIntosh, who said he was a spiky-haired skateboarding fan when he got here, took to the city’s ska and punk scenes, among other things. But he never let his heart stray too far from the music he had heard in his father’s collection as a youth, including the Band, Sam Cooke and Michael Jackson.

“I love all kinds of music,” he said. “I went to hip hop shows at Underworld, folk evenings at the Yellow Door and rock sets at Le Belmont. I was a spongy 20-year-old, and I tried to soak it all up. I was definitely keen for influence.”

Breithaupt had a similar split in her tastes. She had asked her older brother to get her a Beatles compilation on cassette when she was 10 and grew up listening to Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Gordon Lightfoot and Bob Dylan. Yet she was a teenager in the ’90s, which meant loving Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Rage Against the Machine as well.

“I had one foot in the grunge scene and one foot in the hippie scene,” she said.

A new strain of garage rock was drawing fans when she came here at the turn of the millennium. “The music scene was amazing,” Breithaupt said. “The Strokes dropped their first record and there were all those bands like the White Stripes and the Hives. It was such an exciting time to be in Montreal. We used to hang out at Café Chaos.”

In 2006, Breithaupt and her friend Meghan Maike formed the folk and country band Maple Falls. The two started from scratch, teaching themselves the rudiments of strumming guitar, harmonizing and songwriting.

The group played a showcase at the Vinyl Bar for International Women’s Day in 2009. Handling the sound that day was MacIntosh, who saw kindred spirits in Breithaupt and Maike. He offered his services as a guitarist at the end of the show and soon joined the group.

Maike moved away and Breithaupt, MacIntosh and drummer Max MacInnes launched a country cover band to spread the gospel of Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn. But Ryan and the Holy Rollers, which ultimately included six members, were finished by 2011.

“We realized it was kind of kitschy,” Breithaupt said. “There’s only so much you can do playing in a cover band.”

But one person who did catch them was musician and producer Mark Goodwin, who encouraged them in their decision to write more material and offered to produce their first album. Enter The Diamond Roads. Goodwin — whose own band, Lazarus Moan, will soon release a new disc, Decorated — supplied one song for the disc, Darling Dears, and suggested some wonderful deep covers: The Gun Club’s Ghost on the Highway, Nancy Sinatra’s seriously weird Lightning’s Girl and Love’s obscure heartbreaker Always See Your Face.

To capture a real-live rockin’ feel, an actual breathing band, including multi-instrumentalist Goodwin, drummer R.D. Harris and bassist Stuart Patterson, provided the driving backup. Horns were even recruited for two tracks, Heel Toe Sway and Come Home, to get maximum soul flavouring.

Breithaupt said she was worried about touching Always See Your Face — written by Love frontman and chief songwriter Arthur Lee. “His records are classic — untouchable to a little white girl from London, Ont.,” she said. “He is such a huge presence. I thought: ‘Who are we to do that song?’ I didn’t feel like I had the right to sing it, but Mark gave me confidence.”

Wisely, the Diamond Roads chose not to try and replicate the song’s tuneful melancholy, recasting it as an upbeat rocker. Similarly, Breithaupt was initially concerned about this transplanted folkie unit tackling the oddball Sinatra rumble-ready pop mini-drama, written by eccentric auteur Lee Hazlewood.

“But secretly, I always wanted to do these songs,” she said. “I always wanted to sing rock ’n’ roll. I always wanted to prowl on stage. My heroes are people who prowl on stage: Debbie Harry, Tina Turner, Ronnie Ronette. When I was a little girl, standing in front of the mirror, I wanted to be these big voices.”

- Bernie Perusse - Montreal Gazette