Concealer to play Brixx Bar & Grill
After many delays, duo finally release results of ‘off-kilter’ collaboration
For the longest time, it seemed as if the duo behind Concealer were trying to hide their heavy-wave debut, feted: fetid, from the rest of the world.
Singer-songwriter Mark Davis and keyboardist miss-mannered recorded feted: fetid more than two years ago and even set a few release dates. After some industry-related delays, the Edmonton twosome picked another date — and then Montrealbased musician/writer Rae Spoon asked to issue Concealer’s sinister-pop album on a new record label, Coax.
Friday, Sept. 4, at long last, is the big day.
“It was tough for us to sit on this record,” says miss-mannered, also known as Sean Picard.
“It’s a great record, it speaks for itself.”
If you know Davis from his altcountry band, Old Reliable, or his solo stuff, Concealer’s feted: fetid might come as a bit of a surprise. His vocals are still as rich and reassuring as ever, yet they’re now swept up in a throbbing tempest of miss-mannered’s sparse keyboards.
Never Know, a nod to perseverance, is an icy cavern of ’80s goth-pop. Curses, an ode to bad timing, reverberates with undulating synths and Soft Cell-type drum machines; while Sank, the duo’s very first composition, burbles with fuzz and lyrics about adoration and helplessness. Even miss-mannered admits he was amazed by the outcome of their initial collaboration.
“I thought we were going to sound more folky and psychedelic and less new wave or dark wave,” he says. “I thought Mark was going to play his acoustic guitar, but no, he pulled out his bass. The juxtaposition of our two sounds was really interesting — they work together but they clash, too.”
Like many of Edmonton’s best acts — including The Wet Secrets and Shout Out Out Out Out — Concealer started off on a whim in 2009.
“To be honest, I was at the Black Dog, at the bar, ordering a drink, and Sean came up behind me and put his arms around me and said: ‘Mark Davis, when are we starting a band?’ ” says Davis.
“I was between projects, so I thought, ‘Why not try something that was off-kilter, that no one would expect in Edmonton,’ ” adds miss-mannered.
“The next time I saw Sean at the Black Dog, he said: ‘So when’s practice?’ I said: ‘Next Thursday,’ ” continues Davis. “He showed up with three keyboards.”
“I was nervous,” remembers miss-mannered. “I was outside his house, shaking and thinking, ‘Oh God, what have I gotten myself into?’ But we nailed down one song, Sank, in the first practice.”
For Davis, writing for Concealer has been an uplifting and revealing experience. He no longer frets over every word he sings, nor does he feel his lyrics are as personal as his solo or Old Reliable tunes.
“I got my start in music when I locked myself in my bedroom and learned the entire Townes Van Zandt catalogue,” he says.
“My biggest influences have been singer-songwriters and so I wasn’t as interested in overall sonic textures and melody and rhythm as I was in lyrics. And I always thought that I had to keep my words understandable yet, at the same time, strive for some poetic element. Now, I don’t worry about it all. It’s so constraining, you can agonize for hours and hours over one or two words. I just can’t do that anymore. I’m more interested now in melody and overall feel.”
Needless to say, Davis won’t be writing all the lyrics for Concealer’s next album. He wants his bandmate to take part in the process.
“I just wrote my first lyrics ever, a couple weeks ago,” says miss-mannered, a DJ and former keyboardist for Headband, The Secretaries and 7 and 7 is.
“Contributing keyboard parts to (feted: fetid) is really great, but Mark wants me to share my voice a bit more — not that I’m a singer as much as Mark is. It’s neat trying to pitch in a bit more.” ssperounes@edmontonjournal.com twitter.com/Sperounes