On their official Facebook page, the Winnipeg, Canada group Royal Canoe describe themselves as “armed with falsettos, guitars, effects pedals, drums, basses, tambourines, shakers and a six-keyboard super-weapon.” With their latest in-studio performance for the folks at CD Baby, the band employs that arsenal to a supremely catchy effect on the tune “Birthday”. The main refrain “It’s not about you / It’s going to happen without you” is delivered in a quirky, rhythmic effect, which is then enhanced by the subtly funky backing instrumentation.
“Birthday” is a track from Royal Canoe’s 2013 LP, Today We’re Believers.
Matt Schellenberg tells PopMatters, “‘Birthday’ was the last song we wrote for the album. Felt like the missing link we didn’t have on the record and it was written quite a ways after the other tracks. We’d been listening to a lot of Jurassic 5 in the van and fell in love with the way they do their choruses, octaves stacked on octaves. So our chorus is perhaps influenced by that. The tune is about loss, and the secret truth about what you wish for when you close your eyes on your birthday. Very kind of CD Baby to pay for a studio to have us record it live off the floor. They were a pleasure to work with.”
Today We’re Believers is out via Nevado (iTunes).