Recording: Unclassic Classics

Artist: Unclassic Classics

Songs: Lonely Son [Vernon Wray cover] + unknown^* + In the Shape of a Heart [Jackson Browne cover]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Sound For Silence II), February 14, 2019.

Unclassic Classics - Lonely Son

Unclassic Classics - unknown

Unclassic Classics - In the Shape of a Heart

This Valentine's Day special served to celebrate a very special love — one felt by a whole series of communities for the Tranzac. With all three of its performance spaces often busy all at once, the sounds from one room can often bleed into the next — theoretically charming in its way, but also disruptive when it happens at an intense or quiet moment of a performance. Fundraising efforts to enhance the rooms' sonic isolation have been underway for awhile now, with this night featuring a silent auction as well as a slate of musical talent drawn from several of the divergent scenes that call the Tranzac home.

The biggest highlight of the night was this sorta-inside-out version of The Weather Station, brought together by Tamara Lindeman to celebrate songs that sound like stone classics, but have been relegated to unjust obscurity. "Most people start cover bands so they can play songs that everybody knows, and play at weddings at stuff. I started a cover band to play songs that nobody knows, hopefully, which is funny 'cause it defeats the purpose of a cover band," she commented early on. The supple and sympathetic backing band got out of the way of the songs, bending their style to fit each piece and moving from the country-soul behind a tune from Link Wray's brother's cult private press album to something simultaneously more "1986" and more soulful than Browne's original recording. (The middle cut here, featuring Lindeman on piano backed only by Ben Whiteley's bass — plus some ungoogleable lyrics — hews the closest to something you might find on a Weather Station album with its spare, intimate beauty.)

A band like this, with Lindeman and Whiteley joined by Sam Gleason (guitar), Geordie Gordon (piano/synth) and Evan Cartwright (drums) played with the effortless excellence of session pros, but also the casual joy that can emerge when there are places like The Holy Oak or The Tranzac to incubate their talent and telepathy.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!