Thursday, November 20, 2003
The Minor Thirds
See Magazine, Edmonton, Alberta
Thursday, November 20, 2003
by Heather Adler
For most people, daydreaming about Saskatchewan is about as exciting as collecting jars of bellybutton lint; however, for one big-city artist, Chris Piuma of The Minor Thirds, Saskatchewan is a mystical place that actually inspired an entire album.
"When I was a kid, I would look at maps—because I've always had a fascination with them—and imagine what the places would be like," Piuma reflects. "I found Saskatchewan when I was young. I thought it had a weird name and it looked like this big box in the middle of a huge country that I knew nothing about, so I would make up stories about people that always came from Moose Jaw or Saskatoon, and I just invented the details."
Currently based in Portland, Piuma has spent his entire life in big cities such as Boston and New York. Such urban settings made Piuma's imagination drift to more desolate locations, and he says "the idea of someplace that was like a big blank slate" was extremely tempting and mysterious to him. The band's latest release, Saskatchewan , features more than a dozen different musicians playing everything from the trumpet to the banjo in order to create the soundscape of Piuma's musical musings on Canada's bread basket. Chaotic rock rhythms come together on the disc with aching folk anthems, and the work includes such curious tracks as "[Moose] Jaw." A dedication is also made "to the good people of Saskatchewan who are forced to put up with [the band's] errant dreams."
Only two of the album's dozen musicians will be making the snowy trek up to Canada this week, and Piuma says their live show will feature a stripped-down approach to their indulgent recordings, but he's excited about the adventure nonetheless. "I've never actually been to Canada, despite wanting to go for a long, long time," Piuma adds. "I'm just curious what life is like there. It's someplace that's very close to where I am, but it doesn't get any media attention, and it just seems to be ignored by everyone."
With any luck, the snowy roads and even snowier fields of the big, flat prairies won't be a disappointment to the American dreamer. If you're curious about how an outsider might imagine our desolate ways, you might want to check out the gig, and bring Piuma some maple syrup and back bacon while you're at it.
See the Minor Thirds at Remedy (8631 109 St.) on Fri, Nov 28 at 7 pm.
Copyright 2003 See Magazine
