The Sound STC•Vol.2 Issue 02
February 2016
Throughout the course of their existence over the past six years, Kelowna rock
YUKON
band Yukon Blonde have drastically changed in sound.
While their beautiful blended harmonies are constant throughout all their altheir 2009 debut EP was indebted to 70s radio rock. 2012’s Tiger Talk was
BLONDE LOVE bums,
full of jangly power-pop, and the follow up, 2015’s On Blonde, found them creating
pop songs. Yukon Blonde have changed their style throughout their
THEIR LAND synth-laden
short career, all the while maintaining a distinct sound to call their own.
By Chris Illich
thesoundstc.com
But they aren’t paying homage or chasing trends, they are trying to evolve as
musicians from record to record.
“We’ve just gone into an electronic feel with our music these days. Jeff [Innes]
just got wrapped up into learning how to use synthsisizers. He’s always been
interested in electronic music and he brought that element to this record. He
programmed all the drums and really dove in hard, and all that really came from
him, so that was really cool,” said Brandon Scott, guitarist and one of the many
vocalists in the band.
The change in sounds between records were also partially due to the recording
process. For Tiger Talk, the band were desperate to put a record out and they
went in and did their record live off the floor in two weeks, most likely on a
break from touring.
Prior to On Blonde, the group took some time off to work on some side projects
and reflect, Scott worked on his beautiful solo EP titled The Postcard Writer,
which was just released this past January.
They then took over the now defunct Hive Studios to work with Colin Stewart [who’s credits include Japandroids, Ladyhawk, Dan Mangan, New Pornographers], but this time around they were able to work at their own pace.
“For On Blonde, we just took our time. We had a break before making it and
some of the songs were there and some of the songs weren’t. We went in and
wrote a lot in the studio. We had never done that before, so that was really fun.
We’d have to go home and think about the songs for a little while and rebook
time in the studio again and we probably went back three or four times in a
period of six months,” said Scott.
“It was a total collaborative experience. It was nice to hear everyone’s opinions
on what should go next or go in certain places, or what sounds we should go
for. Also, we had Colin’s input on certain structure ideas. We were just kind of
playing with things after we recorded it while we were editing. It makes a big
difference, to be able to listen back and have fun with it.”
The end result paid off, with On Blonde being their strongest record to date.
The tracks were mixed by Tony Hoffer, an American producer who’s notable
works include Beck, M83 and Phoenix. This led to On Blonde becoming a shimmering, glossy record, and their first two single’s “Saturday Night” and “I Wanna
Be Your Man”, showcased that.
The different sounds on On Blo