ABERNETHY

JOE ABERNETHY is a singer and musician not at all interested in being famous. Or so it would seem.

I went on a search for a photograph of him online. Couldn't find one. Maybe he's shy.

He is, at the very least, Canadian. Which probably explains a lot.

From Vancouver, to be exact. Vancouver is rumored to be beautiful. Mountains and water and parks and suchlike. Also: rain. Which probably explains such Abernethy song titles as "Ancient Lake," "Flowers," and "The Weather."

Such songs with such titles (and eight other songs with other titles) can be found on the album COLLEGE GROVE, which can be found [HERE] (if you're Canadian) or [HERE] (if you're not). If you prefer to purchase digitally and are from anywhere at all, you can go [HERE].

But for one track, COLLEGE GROVE is a slow, brooding affair. It is also quite beautiful. Like Vancouver, perhaps. Though I've never been. So I wouldn't know.

Abernethy's voice is a deep and rich instrument, made even more luscious through layering. He is also a poet, citing LEONARD COHEN as an influence. Not that he sounds like Leonard Cohen. He doesn't. Maybe if you hijacked Leonard Cohen out of Manhattan and left him, helpless, in some sunny meadow, without a single drop of scotch... maybe then Abernethy would sound like Leonard Cohen. But, no, I don't think so. Not even then.

Now, I don't want you to think that Abernethy is some hippy-dippy huckster of New Age-y pastoral pop. Or that he's crafting music for Druids. Neither would be true; both would miss the mark. Yes, sure, he's interested in lakes and flowers and weather and suchlike. But he lives in Vancouver. Which is rumored to be beautiful. So what choice does the man have? None at all, I would submit. He is a victim of geography. Pity him.

Finally, remember a minute ago when I said "but for one song"? (Scan back, if you need to. I'll wait....)

Okay then, here's what I meant when I said that: Opening track "Astronaut" is anything BUT "hippy-dippy" or "New Age-y." Its brightness and bounciness would have Druids confused. More BELLE AND SEBASTIAN (or MORRISSEY, drunk on love, in a sunny meadow) than Leonard Cohen (or even Joe Abernethy), it's a corker of a tune. I'm guessing, the day Abernethy penned it, it wasn't raining. In Vancouver. Or anywhere else.

ABERNETHY on MySPACE.

ABERNETHY on stage >>>

May 5 2007 10:00A/The Chapel @ 10pm (New Music West)/Vancouver
May 23 2007 9:30P/Railway Club (with The Battles and Bells Clanging)/Vancouver

[MP3] "Astronaut"

[MP3] "The Weather"