Wings Of Normandy - Bitterroot (Narwhal Records)
From an initial partnership formed in 2008, Wings Of Normandy have expanded into a five-piece band, launched their own record label and put out this debut album. Not bad for a bunch of young individuals out there in the wilds of the Rockies… okay, in Salt Lake City, but it sure does sound more pioneering being out in those ‘wilds’. Also, to be fair, this does sound more Brooklyn than backwoods. Bitterroot is polished to a bright luster, and melodies are free to reverberate around and bounce off shiny surfaces before they reach your ears, and that’s not a negative.

However, with the opening three numbers, it does make for a busy time as you try to take it all in. The tempo change comes on track four, “My Lonely Love”, where there is a touch of The Weakerthans on the gentle opening approach, before the choral side gets a grip and we are back on the shiny streets again. The following “Bored” has an individual resonance, which continues quite superbly into “Overcast”, a beautiful song that musically is quite different to The Weakerthans, though it does have all the lyrical hallmarks of a great John K Samson song: ‘…The overcast light made life look black and white…And it sets you in my mind like a photograph in time…And I miss you like the ocean…’

Apart from the opening tracks hitting you a bit like a whirlwind, once your feet are back on the ground you get the impression that this band do know where they are going, and how they are going to get there. Arrangements are peppered with the cello strings of founder Skyler Kershner, which are never overdone, and the singing of the other founder member, Johnny Wasden, is perfectly suited to these songs.

W. O. N. has shared the stage with a number of notables in the past, but it is my guess that some of these ‘notables’ might well be sharing the stage with Wings Of Normandy in the near future.
www.myspace.com/wingsofnormandy

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