My Brood

Just a quick heads up before I get started, boys and girls:  We've rebooted our (largely) NFB blog, The Recorded North.  You can go there to keep up to date with what's going down at the NFB in this new cutthroat climate.  I'll be posting videos, articles, and some of my old historical work.  Enjoy!

Now that I've got a space for my boiling and roiling Canadian arts and culture opinions, I can keep this space about clothes and travel and other fluffy stuff.

I say that, and then I put together this outfit solely to expound upon one particular facet of the Canadian arts whom I love: the band, Elliott BROOD.

I've listened to these guys for a few years now, and earlier this year they came out with a blinding album, titled Days into Years (I wrote about their concert here).  However, just this past week I heard this interview that the group did with PRI's The World about the inspiration for the album.  Man, I thought I loved them before?  Well upon hearing that Days into Years was inspired by their travels through Europe, encountering remnants of the First World War, and trying to put the thoughts and feelings of Canadian soldiers into song, boys and girls I'm not afraid to say I fell SO. MUCH. MORE in love with the band and the album.

Take for instance the song Hold You.  At first I though it was an, albeit morbid, love song between a family and a dying parent, friend, or compatriot.  When you listen to it with your WWI headphones on though, it's clear that verses such as "I'll hold you in my arms until the wound subsides / Come now to the darkness, and pray for the coming light / We know now that she's coming, hear the rattle in your lungs / We know now that you'll never make the coming light of dawn," are about a soldier dying in a fellow soldier's arms.  They elucidate upon this much more clearly in the interview than I could, but suffice to say I am moved, touched, and heartened that there are artists out there who care about preserving these memories just as much as I do.

And so what do I do to cement my love of this album and this band?  Why I wear their t-shirt and take pictures of myself in it:

T-Shirt: Elliott BROOD Merch
Jeans: Old Navy
Sandals: Hand-me-downs from my aunt
Sunglasses: H&M

Seriously though, boys and girls, it's a really great album and they're a really great band.  If I were to get a tattoo it would definitely read CANCON4EVA.

Love,

Your friend Lina