Former Harlan Pepper frontman goes solo
Hamilton band’s work lives on in Ladies on the Corner
What’s the deal? Harlan Pepper was a pack of precociously talented youngsters from Hamilton who looked set to make a permanent dent in rootsy CanCon musical circles until they packed it in toward the end of summer last year, but the quartet’s fleeting legacy lives on in the fine solo work now being unveiled by frontman Dan Edmonds.
Quietly released on Guelph indie Missed Connection Records last month, Edmonds’s debut LP, Ladies on the Corner, rocks a shaggy, electric-Beat-folkie vibe reminiscent of Lou Reed, Kurt Vile, the young Bob Dylan and fellow Grateful Dead admirer Cass McCombs, with a couple of rambles into mournful, distant-psych territory that evoke the late, great Galaxie 500 in its tenderest moments of Velvet Underground idolatry. In just eight songs and 22 minutes, it portends a notably richer and stranger musical future ahead than the one already promised.
Edmonds laid down the eight-track before fleshing the tunes out on the recording with help from Cuff the Duke/Grey Lands frontman Wayne Petti, Del Bel bandleader Tyler Belluz and sometimes Bry Webb sideman Richard Burnett, so you can see he has some talented people rooting for him. Petti, in fact, was sufficiently impressed at what Edmonds had cooking on Ladies on the Corner to offer up his services as manager. And if you’re still mourning the premature demise of Harlan Pepper, you’ll be pleased to know that Edmonds’ former bandmates still have a tendency to turn up for his live gigs. Which, as anyone who ever caught one of Harlan Pepper’s nimble performances might surmise, are pretty tasty. Sum up what you do in a few simple sentences Says Edmonds: “I spend most of my time in the basement of a venue here in Hamilton, making records. When I need a break I’ll walk down the street for a hamburger. Sometimes, we’ll order takeout and eat burgers while we record. It’s paradise.” What’s a song I need to hear right now? “Can’t Stop Thinking.” Lazy, hazy “Sweet Jane”-ness that goes everywhere you need it to go, but graciously throws an unexpectedly dreamy keyboard part on top. Where can I see him play? At the Burdock Music Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 16 with Geordie Gordon and Nick Ferrio.