Local rockers Fool’s Tongue continue to evolve — and grow
As they approach their first decade, the local brainchild of Jeff Ramsey and Luke Ertman known as Fools Tongue continues to evolve beyond anything they originally envisioned.
While their second album, Sky, sees them heading in more of a deliberate alternative rock direction, you can still hear echoes of their previous highly eclectic sound.
The first thing you notice is the group’s sophisticated multi-layered landscape, a wide dynamic range that runs from full-on anthemic waves of voice and electronics to sudden spaces, detailed guitar riffing and strung-out, textured rhythm patterns. Gone are the longer track lengths of their 2014 art-rock album New World, now calibrated to a dozen songs, mostly in the three- or four-minute range.
But if Fools Tongue has traded in its early folk-rock angles for something closer to Arcade Fire or Imagine Dragons, the progressive rock influences of Peter Gabriel (shades of Genesis) still seep through frequently and the melodies still take on an occasional, haunting tinge of something Middle Eastern (or is it Middle Earth?).
Friends since grade school, guitarist Ramsey and Chapman stick player Ertman are still crucial to the mix, but Sky is more the product of a band than anything they ’ve done before, with an enhanced presence of varied exotic percussion lines from Josh Littlechild and set drums from Dave Leibel. Flurries of Nathan Samuelson’s trumpet and Sean Bumstead’s trombone add to the thick harmonic density.
While there are some thematic threads of apocalyptic proportions behind the words, songwriters Ramsey and Ertman seem to be done with an underlying storyline. Still, there’s something about the earnest, searching lyric tone, impressionistic vocal lines and the multiple voices behind them, mostly Ramsey and Cassia Schmidt, with Ertman and Erica Van Drunen (who doubles on keyboards) joining in and an even larger backing chorus on a couple of tunes. It all lends a dramatic urgency and you’re reminded that Ertman has spent a lot of time scoring music for live theatre.
If Sky is Fools Tongue’s more concerted effort at a contemporary spin on rock trends, it’s still a thinking person’s rock unit with elaborate underpinnings. Perhaps the most interesting part is Fools Tongue is now more than a duo, more of a band, and that could lead to some charged live performances.
Note: A six-member version of Fools Tongue marks the release of Sky in performance at 8 p.m. April 28, in the Capitol Theatre at Fort Edmonton Park. Tickets for this all-ages event are $25 from Tix on the Square (780-420-1757 or tixonthesquare.ca) or at the door. Check the band’s website foolstongue.ca for further details.