There’s certainly some great music coming out of Canada these days, and it’s not just St.Arnaud! Add Countdown by Toronto-based Bad Western to your Maple Leafs playlist. Frankly, this is current indie music at its best: it breathes; it applies tasteful effects to the guitars without being showy; it provides plenty of changes without coming across as pretentious.
With what sounds like a haunted whale humming, the song opens on a droning soundscape and then couples that with some lovely clanging, echoing guitars. Enter Wyatt Fine-Gagné’s voice, which loosely reminds me of Fred Schneider (B-52s for you youngsters!), though more gentle. There’s a certain zen calmness about the lyrics: ‘Relax! It’s here. It’s anything. Open window, breeze is blowing, I’ll put my heart into something.’ But it’s the fuzzed-up comping with the parading toms in the chorus where Countdown captures my heart for repeated listens: the yang to the smoothness of the yin of the verses. Eventually, synth and wobbly jangle guitar become the inevitable happy co-protagonists transporting us to the triumphant finale.
Before this single, Bad Western had released an EP in 2018 and two singles (2020 and 2021). So, you see where I’m going with this: the only disadvantage to discovering these guys is that there just isn’t enough music! Here’s hoping for a full album, or minimally an EP, in the near future. Meanwhile, catch Countdown on Bandcamp or Spotify.
Written by Greg Gobel
