#steven lambke

[garadinervi]

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Live Like The Sky, (Limited edition Vinyl LP, CD, Digital album), YC-068, You've Changed Records, 2025

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson: vocals Nick Ferrio, Ansley Simpson, Jonas Bonnetta, Caylie Rrunciman: back up vocals Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Jonas Bonnetta, Ansley Simpson, Caylie Runciman, Nick Ferrio, Steven Lambke: song writing Jonas Bonnetta, Ansley Simpson, Caylie Runciman, Nick Ferrio: guitars Nick Ferrio, Caylie Runciman, Jonas Bonnetta: bass Tanner Paré, Jonas Bonnetta: drums and percussion Jonas Bonnetta, Caylie Runciman, Ansley Simpson: keys and synths

Album Art: Malia Osorio Layout: Paul Henderson

[stevenlambke]

“The individual life is distinguished from all other things by the rectilinear course of its movement, which, so to speak, cuts through the circular movements of biological life. This is mortality: to move along a rectilinear line in a universe where everything, if it moves at all, moves in a cyclical order.” - Hannah Arendt

Photograph by Matt Charlton. Dark Blue is coming soon.

[dustedmagazine]

Steven Lambke and Jimmie Kilpatrick — Friendship Traces (You’ve Changed)

Steven Lambke

Experimental is a tag that can scare off listeners. Albums with this label can sound like something from the research and development wing of music: abstract, difficult or even weird. At first glance, Friendship Traces by Steven Lambke and Jimmie Kilpatrick looks like one of these records: it’s based around synths, drum samples and a melodica. There’s nary a guitar in sight. But right from the get-go, this duo shows themselves as open-minded, warm, and friendly.

Friendship Traces is a shade under half an hour long and the result of sessions of playing, overdubbing and tape manipulation by two Canadians: Lambke, a Canadian singer and guitarist, and indie musician KIlpatrick, formerly known as Shotgun Jimmie. Both have shown some indication towards experimenting but this release pushes them deep into new ground. And it’s mostly successful, too.

It opens with the title track: soft analog keyboard sounds from Kilpatrick and a sharp, reedy sound from Lambke’s melodica. The piece slowly builds as the keyboard’s lines multiply and the melodica’s notes extend into drones. Instruments are overdubbed, layering them into two musicians dueting with both themselves and their partner. Lambke’s playing should sound thin — it is a simple wind instrument, after all — but he wrings raw emotion out of it. It’s a captivating performance.

“Spaceship Spaceship” continues the vibe: Kilpatrick’s drum samples form a simple, reverbed-out rhythm that lingers in the air while the melodica drones and buzzes like a hive of bees and the bass gives the music gentle nudges forward.

At times it’s hard not to think of Augustus Pablo, arguably the melodica’s most influential player. From the dub-inspired drum and bass sounds to the way Lambke carries the melody, his presence feels like it’s watching from just off stage. But if the music picks up on his ideas it also takes them somewhere new. “The Shape of a Pocket” mixes in twisted and distorted drum samples that feel like they’re beamed in from one of Aphex Twin’s ambient records. 

Indeed, this juxtaposition of 1970s, King Tubby-informed dub and ambient soundscapes is at the heart of this record, two ideas that never feel like they’re at odds so much as they are talking and listening to each other. Friendship Traces often seems less like a performance than it does a conversation.

All in all, Friendship Traces is an electronic dub record that’s nothing like the stuff Adrian Sherwood’s been brewing on the other side of the Atlantic. It’s slow, deliberate and yes, experimental. But it never feels self-consciously arty, self-important, or like it’s making a grand statement. It just feels like what it is: a record made by two talented musicians who happen to be friends that trust each other to take the music somewhere new. It’s a refreshing listen and one that I’ve been returning to often. You likely will, too.

Roz Milner

[riotactmedia]

Sun-13 talks with Toronto's Steven Lambke about his new LP 'Volcano Volcano'

Truth Marks: In Conversation with Steven Lambke

We talk to the Toronto-based songwriter about his new album, ‘Volcano Volcano’.

[grayowlpoint]

Steven Lambke has a heavenly theme going for his latest recording, and it’s no accident. After several excellent rock records as Baby Eagle, Lambke brings his signature raspy voice to folk for a gentle, spiritual serenade. Despite the provocative album cover, Lambke doesn’t try to be too subversive; rather, he goes all in on the imagery of the moon, the sun and the sky above as they relate to love.

Read our full review of Steven Lambke’s Days of Heaven here. 

[cbcmusic-blog]

From this week’s Songs You Need To Hear:

Steven Lambke, 'Days of Heaven'

Lambke is one of Canada’s best lyricists: put your headphones on and give in to the temptation to close your eyes. This is a song best enjoyed in darkness. Not to say it is a dark song, on the contrary. Listen carefully as Lambke paints a portrait of a strange sweet soothsayer, whispering in your ear. “But it takes a strong mind not to turn away from the gaze of heaven.” Also, how gorgeous is Shary Boyle’s cover art?

— Julia Caron (@cbcjulia)