If bands could go through puberty, Montreal’s the Darling DeMaes would be pimply-faced and squeaky-voiced.
The band’s lead singer and guitarist, Erik Virtanen, moved to Montreal from Vancouver Island last year. He started playing music at open mic nights around the city, and through that met a Quebecer named Buz. Elysia Torneria, who sings and plays the glockenspiel, came to some of their early shows and eventually joined the band, who are playing at the Artel tonight.
A year later, after experimenting with different combinations of percussionists, the band has rounded itself out with Alec Ellsworth on bass and Fred Rail on drums.
“We’ve just been changing ever since we started, so we’re kind of used to it now,” Virtanen said. “It’s been a part of the band that we do everything different—every show is different, really different styles. We can play an acoustic show that’s really laid back, or have a really full band with distortion.”
And most bands would be hesitant to experiment so publicly, Virtanen said change is something their fans have come to expect from the DeMaes.
“For people who have seen us a lot and come to a lot of shows, they see something different every time, and so all of these changes have been a part of the band too,” he said.
Nowhere is their volatility better demonstrated than in the list of artists they’ve been compared to. From Belle and Sebastian to Pavement to the Ronettes, their sound is hard to pin down. Their Myspace page calls them “Indie/Rock/Acoustic;” a few more forward slashes would need to be added to adequately communicate their sound.
A dainty negotiation between the worlds of folk and rock music, the band’s music is emotional and bare-boned, conveying an unabashed earnestness rarely seen in indie music.
The DeMaes feel a bit like the awkward younger brother as they try to make their mark in a sea of hip, high-profile bands in Montreal.
“We’re finding that the French culture is really, really supportive and we’re finding that the English culture has a bit of a history in the music scene here. We’re outsiders, because I’m not from here, and we’re playing a style of music that isn’t exactly what the indie scene in Montreal is playing right now,” he said. “We always stand a little bit outside the indie scene.”
Virtanen moved to Montreal originally to pursue his day-time career as a film screen writer. He’s since been able to lend that ability to his music writing.
“I think our songs are really image-oriented. The songs all tell a story and it seems like on our EP, every song is about a different type of girl,” Virtanen said. “I really spend a lot of time on the lyrics. It’s a really important part of every song.
The Darling DeMaes’ first EP, Winter Keep Us Warm, was released this May and is available for free download on the band’s site. Largely the result of a lucky break, the album was recorded and produced by Mark Andrew Lawson, a British producer who was visiting Montreal for a month and booked the DeMaes for a showcase he was putting together of upcoming Montreal bands. After the showcase, Lawson called the DeMaes and said he wanted to see them again.
“We played for him in a living room, and it kind of inspired him to want to create a unique feel for an album,” Virtanen said. “He wanted us to play live in a studio and he would mix it so it sounded like we were all sitting around in a living room, as if we were in a semi-circle around someone who listened to the record on headphones.”
As the band begins to promote the EP, which was recorded live off the floor, they’re also embarking on a new journey—literally. This month signifies not only the band’s first tour, but their first time playing outside of Montreal.
“We’ve been taking things one step at a time, and this felt like a good time to get outside the city and to go to different places,” Virtanen said. “When we started playing in Montreal, I thought it would be good if music could take me to different places and give me different experiences I wasn’t having if I wasn’t playing music.”
Though any change has its growing pains, the Darling DeMaes seem to be taking it all in stride.
“In terms of growing, it’s not scary or anything. We’re just kind of going along with the flow and it’s really fun,” Virtanen said. “What we’re doing right now is really nice, and if it grows, then it grows.”
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