Wet Grow Light

À l’extérieur de la salle, les organisateurs ont aménagé un espace intime pour permettre aux artistes d’offrir des performances acoustiques. C’est là que j’y ai fait ma première découverte de la fin de semaine : Wet Grow Light, groupe originaire de Saint Jean, au Nouveau-Brunswick. Le quintette réduit en format trio, le batteur s’improvisait beatboxer pour la soirée. De très bons grooves qui trouvaient une tout autre profondeur en version acoustique, mélangeant soul, funk, rock dans un contexte psychédélique. - 500khz

When musician Clifford Doucette gave birth to the psychedelic power-folk beast that is Wet Grow Light, his original idea was a far cry from the diverse, genre-bending Saint John musicians that make up the group.

Enlarge Photo Wet Grow Light combines complex sounds to create a genre that's all their own. "When it originally started off it was just me doing a lot of electronic programming and playing my Bouzouki, making kind of a world music meets dance music style," Doucette said, as he and his four bandmates gear up for their next gig, March 23 at Peppers Pub. "Eventually I just wanted to have more of an impact in the live scenario. I regrouped and started bringing in other musicians."

Now fully fleshed out with live drums, bass and violin on top of Doucette's guitar and bouzouki, they've achieved a sound that combines musical elements into what the band likes to think of as a "psychedelic journey."

"It's for people looking for an experience that's a bit out of the ordinary. There's so many rock and indie pop groups right now, and there's a lot of great bands already there, so that kind of pushed us into exploring some other kinds of sounds."

Those other kinds of sounds include folk, gypsy, surf, jazz, psychedelia and even Balkan elements. The sound might be complex, but Doucette said the talent of his bandmates, like violinist Krista Conell, makes everything come together on stage.

"She's really quite talented and she really knows how to bring out those exotic grooves."

The group's first full-length record, Electric Tie Dye Psychedelic Samurai, is fully recorded and due out this spring, and Doucette said they're all stoked to take their spectacle on the road and show off new songs.

"Last summer was mostly light touring, with the group still being fairly new together, but this summer we're planning on going a lot heavier with that."

- HERE Magazine