On the Record with Contrived

By Aiden Landman
Published: December 16th, 2008 | 4:05pm

Scrimping and saving to release their first three records, Halifax- and Montreal-based band Contrived are currently busy creating a buzz all over your computer. Their new record, blank, blank, blank (Hand-Drawn Dracula), has been brought to the attention of MySpace and iTunes, the former granting them featured-artist status, and the latter giving them the single-of-the-week nod.

Comprising members of Wintersleep and Holy Fuck, Contrived creates a sound not entirely unlike their parent bands but only vaguely reminiscent. The darker sounds of science and industry tint their self-described hard-rock and pop hybrid, leaving something easily palatable but strangely mechanical.

Recently, the boys of Contrived filled us in on which albums they keep coming back to and which albums they can’t get enough of.

Guitarist-vocalist Jon Samuel
John Lennon
Plastic Ono Band (Capitol)

Because it's way better than Band on the Run. “Mother,” “Working Class Hero,” “Isolation” — all amazing!

Guitarist-vocalist Mike MacNeil
Jason Molina
Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go (Secretly Canadian)

This album is really sad, but in a good way. The minimal production and lo-fi sound quality only serve to enhance the simplicity and melancholy of the songs.

Bassist Michael Bigelow
Black Dice
Beaches & Canyons (DFA)

This record, for me, started off much in the same as the Jason Molina record did for Mike M. Actually, it kind of — in a roundabout way — took me years to get into Black Dice. After being introduced and re-introduced to this band again and again, it seemed that my hatred for their sounds only increased. For some reason, I revisited this album when I was playing in Holy Fuck and fell in love with this record and this band. It’s nice when patience is rewarded. The five songs on this record are built upon sounds that I have no idea of their source, which keeps it mysterious for me; I don't even want to know where they came from in the first place. The song that got me in the end was “Things Will Never Be the Same.” This track embodies everything that I like about Black Dice, start to finish. The lush sounds they come up with — while getting through some of the harsh sounds of these five long jams — are truly worth the wait.

Drummer Loel Campbell
The White Birch
Come Up for Air (Rune Grammofon)

It was released a few years back [2006]. The band is Norwegian and has a spooky, minimal, and quiet sound.

Guitarist-keyboardist Tim D'Eon
Do Make Say Think
&Yet &Yet (Constellation)

I bought this record when I went to see them play at the Marquee in Halifax, Nova Scotia, years ago without ever hearing them before. The show was amazing; and I have never stopped listening to this record. This is definitely the record I listen to the most when I'm driving on tour.

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Contrived MySpace

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