Music
Press
Fans of Death Cab for Cutie, pre-millennial minimal electronica, and krautrock will hear much to love on this debut CD. Out of left field with a background in classical music, and much like his namesake greenspace, Meadows creates aural landscapes that make your brain want to lie down and play. - Beatroute - December 2006
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
The meadowsweet is a four-piece indie band from Montréal. Started by Pete Meadows in 2009, the group has had as many as seven members, but currently consists of the following refined and stable quartet:
Kate Wand is a native Montréalaise and the meadowsweet's lead singer. Statuesque, sultry, terrible at navigating, and trained both classically and in pop for most of her life, she brings tremendous power and haunting subtlety to the group's sound, and an irrepressible energy to live shows, assuming she finds them.
Hailing originally from Mérida, Mexico, bracingly handsome guitarist Ricardo Katsuya is a ninja of the fretboard. The range of styles he's played in bands from Mexico to Canada have honed his chops, his vast range of expression, and a hairstyle that defies both reason and denial. His lightning fingers and infectious grin are the meadowsweet's reliable anchor and his willingness to laugh at anything mitigates the group's substantial pompous tendencies.
With classical training and 20 years of assorted violin experience, Quebécoise Rachel Prince combines an irresistibly cute façade with a fierce professionalism and a dangerously sly wit. Her formidable stylings, which can lambast, caper, croon and beguile, are a cornerstone of the band's sound. She also plays a mean shaker.
Charming Calgarian Pete Meadows is the group's driving force. With classical training, nearly two-and-a-half decades of wide-ranging piano experience, a lifetime of songwriting, having played in groups on three continents, and with a killer hat, he acts as the group's songwriter, arranger, director, and most importantly, ukulelist.
The meadowsweet plays music inspired by a wide range of sources and ideas. Meadows and his group seek to synthesize the disparate elements into a new sound that is highly dynamic, by turns energetic and expressive, and displays rich technical and musical sophistication. The band maintains a very intense practice schedule and is constantly introducing new material.
There are many genres that influence the group, ranging from classical to folk, from indie rock to trip-hop, and including a multitude of others. Similarly, some of the artists that have influenced the group include Andrew Bird, Radiohead, Pat Metheny, Stars, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Stereolab, Sufjan Stevens, Four Tet, Thelonius Monk, NIN, Most Serene Republic, Eels, Amon Tobin, and many, many others.
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