Album Review – The Acorn “No Ghost”

June 1, 2010 marks the release of “No Ghost” from Ottawa’s The Acorn in North America with a European release following a week later on June 8. “No Ghost” is the band’s sixth release, and their first full-length album since 2007’s “Glory Hope Mountain”.

The Acorn began as a solo project for Rolf Klausener in 2002 as an experiment in learning home-recording. Soon after, Rolf decided to expand the project adding Howie Tsui, Jeff Debutte, and Jeffrey Malecki to form a full band, bringing together traditional and eclectic instruments. This formation led to the band’s first release “The Pink Ghosts” in 2004.

After the release of the beautifully crafted experimental folk and pop fusion “Blankets!” and “Tin Fist” EPs, The Acorn added pianist Keiko Devaux to the mix. “Glory Hope Mountain” followed as the band’s piece de resistance. It is a scholarly undertaking documenting the life of Klausener’s mother Gloria Esperanza Montoya, who was born in Honduras, in song. Because the material of the album was so personal, “Glory Hope Mountain” packed quite the emotional and passionate punch. It received well-deserved praise including a Polaris Prize long list nomination in 2008.

“No Ghost” has the melodic folk and pop mixtures from their previous releases with a more straightforward rock sound. It also departs from the immensely personal lyrical content. The album seems to ebb and flow between calm folk lulls and raucous rock tracks. When listening to “No Ghost”, the jolting transition from acoustic to electric works for the album but the jarring changes may be overwhelming for those expecting another “Glory Hope Mountain”. Each listen, without fail, I find myself soothed by the acoustic tracks, then subtlety startled with the electric guitars and think the album has looped from the end back to the beginning. The transition from the “Bobcat Goldwraith” to the title track does it to me every time.

A quick look at the album’s track list alludes to the evolution towards rock with titles like “Slippery When Wet” immediately bringing Bon Jovi’s third release of the same name to mind, and “I Made the Law” is reminiscent of The Clash’s famous cover of “I Fought the Law”. Listening to the lyrics, you can hear “Smoke on the water as the day burns out on the bay” during a verse of “Bobcat Goldwraith” which of course is also similar to the title of Deep Purple’s classic “Smoke on the Water”.

The writing and recording process of “No Ghost” took place both in rural Northern Quebec and urban Montreal which no doubt contributed to the acoustic/electric dichotomy. The electric track “Crossed Wires” features the essence of this rock transition and fierce lyrics “Keep the Bay Street wolves at bay” while the traditional The Acorn sound featured in “Restoration” could seamlessly place the track in any of their previous releases.

“No Ghost” is a welcome evolution of The Acorn, sounding more like their live shows than prior recordings. The Acorn are currently on tour supporting “No Ghost” in Europe, with Ontario summer dates as well. Check their Myspace for dates near you.