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Land of Talk: isle of one

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Land of Talk: isle of one

Elizabeth Powell has just turned thirty and with the big three-oh comes a new Lizzie and a new album, Cloak and Cipher, Land of Talk’s second studio album since their humble beginnings in 2006.

Being the frontwoman of the Montreal trio, Lizzie has finally taken the reigns in a way she couldn’t foresee back when the threesome started in university. Since each member from the original line-up left the band one by one, today Land of Talk is session drummer Andrew Barr (The Slip), Joe Yarmush on bass (Kill The Lights, Zeroes and band photographer), but mostly it’s one hundred percent Elizabeth Powell.

“The moment I realized that Land of Talk has always been and will always be myself, that’s when I started to open up more and ironically, now it feels more like a collaborative group vibe. Everybody knew that before and once I realized what everybody else already knew, it really liberated the song arranging process and also the live process.”

Being alone gave birth to the inspiration that is the basis of Land of Talk’s second album. It was when Elizabeth was living in Wisconsin, in a rapidly eroding relationship, alone in a house she didn’t know, in a town where everyone was a “rank stranger,” that Elizabeth reunited herself with her music. After nearly getting carpal tunnel syndrome from playing too much Guitar Hero and boring herself half to death watching DVDs, Lizzie finally turned to her laptop and discovered the ease of Garageband software.

“I just returned to the method of being alone in a room, strumming away on a guitar, finding a melody, pulling it just out of the air and playing it for hours and hours. I had amassed 38 parts of songs by the time I left that relationship and had returned to Montreal. Then we went on tour and I lost my voice.”

No pain, no gain
Ruptured vocal polyps threatened Elizabeth’s voice and, not wanting to succumb to surgery, she cancelled her tour with Broken Social Scene and voluntarily took another crack at solitude, for two and a half months of complete vocal rest.

Her voice is definitely different on Cloak and Cipher, due in part to a new vocal maintenance regimen that directly influenced the album’s musical arrangements. But it’s not only Lizzie’s voice that has changed, Cloak and Cipher is a new step for Land of Talk. Taking audible cues from her stints on stage with BSS, the sound is softer and the melodies are more layered than on previous recordings. Instead of the tortured live-off-the-floor, unornamented wail and the punk-rock ideals, Land of Talk is lighter, more subtle, positive and almost pretty.

“Since I wasn’t writing the songs in a rehearsal space with the band, they became very quiet and simple. Once we got into a studio setting I realized how much room there was to add nuances and layers. I’m learning about not sounding so tortured, not straining myself any more. It created a whole new palette, which I’m really enjoying.”

www.landoftalk.com

 

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