Victoria-based indie rock band The Carlines are on a road trip to promote their new Extended Play (EP), and one of their pitstops will be in Fernie.
The band’s sound is driven by a haunting combination of melodic vocals and heartfelt lyrics played on top of the kind of drum and bass lines your heart can beat to.
The band line-up is comprised of founder and former solo artist Sjoerd Meyer, whose songs are lifted by three musicians who have individually trekked across North America and played in front of thousands.
Together, their creative sound was forged as one on the three-song EP Still The Sun Will Rise.
Meyer admits that having a band consist of veteran touring artists has helped him to elevate the music he wrote as a solo artist.
“Even though I’m still predominantly the main creative drive behind the band, the fact that there is feedback and the bouncing around of ideas has changed how I’ve approached stuff and takes it out of what I would normally do,” said Meyer.
One such song is their lead single “Heart” which took on new life when Meyer brought it to The Carlines.
“It’s our most melancholic song and it’s a very reflective song. I felt like it encompassed a lot for me personally with music just in the sense [that] things will go on all the time in life,” noted Meyer.
Their EP Still The Sun Will Rise takes its name from the opening lyrics on “Heart.”
“Careless words are the trigger on a loaded gun/It fires at a heart still beating to the rhythm of a broken drum/Still the sun will rise/The sun will fall,” sings Meyer over the pickings of an acoustic guitar.
“It captured the idea that no matter what happens, the sun will rise and it will fall and time will pass by,” said Meyer of the song and of the EP as a whole, which he hopes will do its job of getting The Carlines name out there.
Meyer explained that without a solid foundation of lyrics or storytelling in a song, everything else falls flat, whether the band is playing an acoustic show or full-throttle electric set.
“We’ve become really versatile and we can play what the room needs. It’s challenging to play to a quiet room, but I love it because the focus then is on the quality of the song,” said Meyer.
The Carlines will be playing in Fernie on November 20 at Infinitea.