Great Big Sea delves deeper into rock

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, May 20, 2004

To some Great Big Sea fans, the Canadian group’s new CD, “Something Beautiful,” will undoubtedly be seen as something of a declaration of musical independence for the band.

Since their debut in the early 1990s, band members had been known for celebrating their roots in the native music of their homeland of Newfoundland by mixing original music and traditional tunes – some of which were centuries old – into their records and live shows.

As time has gone on, though, Great Big Sea has embraced more of a pop and rock sound, and “Something Beautiful” stands as the band’s most rock-oriented release to date.

But don’t think Alan Doyle and his bandmates are done carrying the torch for the traditional music of Newfoundland or have lost any of their love for that music.

“As a matter of fact, just to confuse people as much as possible, I just left our studio, which is right here in St. Johns, Newfoundland,” Doyle said when he called in early March. “We’re about a quarter of the way through an all-traditional record that we’ve started already and will come out next year. It’s all Newfoundland folk songs.”

The direction of “Something Beautiful,” though, should not come as a surprise. Great Big Sea’s previous CD, the 2002 release “Sea Of No Cares,” had already been a fairly notable further step toward an up-to-date pop/rock sound.

Doyle sees “Something Beautiful” as yet another step toward escaping any stylistic restraints.

“Those kind of pop elements, like drum loops and backwards guitars and that kind of stuff were the decoration of ‘Sea of No Cares,’” Doyle said. “The decoration or the new focus for ‘Something Beautiful’ was rock and roll. It’s like, get five of us in a room, like we’re 18 again, with drums and electric guitars and power chords and let’s bash out some songs.

“We decided before we went in to make this record, that if a song sounded good as a folk song, then we’d do it like a folk song,” he said. “We wouldn’t feel any need to make it sound like our song. And if a song sounded good as a Celtic stomper, then we’d do it like that, and if a song sounded good as a rock and roll song, then we’ll do it like that. Let’s break all the rules.”

As such, the new CD finds Great Big Sea putting rocked-up tunes like “Shines Right Through Me,” “Sally Ann” and “When I Am King” right alongside tunes such as “Beat the Drum” and “John Barbour” that retain some traditional Newfoundland flavor. Meanwhile the songs “Something Beautiful” (a sunny pop tune) and “Summer” (a more melancholy acoustic ballad) bring additional variety to the new CD.

The departures don’t stop with matters of musical style. The instrumentation has also changed.

Over the course of four previous studio CDs released since Great Big Sea came on the scene in 1995, the band had been strictly acoustic, with muted percussion. But on “Something Beautiful,” electric guitars frequently chime from the speakers and full drums power many of the songs.

Part of this shift grew from a significant personnel change that preceded the new CD. In 2003 bassist, percussionist and founding member Darrell Power left the band in order to devote time to his family. This left Doyle (guitar/vocals) and two other original members, Bob Hallett (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, accordion) and Sean McCann (vocals, guitar, bodhran) as the core of the group.

Rather than just finding a new bassist (the group recruited former Moxy Fruvous bassist Murray Foster to fill that vacancy) the group also brought drummer Kris MacFarlane on board.

Great Big Sea

With Carbon Leaf: 8 p.m. Saturday, Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave., Seattle. $20, $23, 206-628-0888.

Great Big Sea

With Carbon Leaf: 8 p.m. Saturday, Moore Theatre, 1932 Second Ave., Seattle. $20, $23, 206-628-0888.