Calgary folk/ roots group Locomotive Ghost are inspired not only by science, but the seasons as well.
“We play folk rock for nerds and lovers,” explained guitarist/ pianist Mike Buckley, who will be bringing the band to Lethbridge to play the Slice, Feb. 2 with Lethbridge country band Hurtin’.
They wear their intellectual sides on their sleeves as the band is named after a line in Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Sunflower Sutra.”
“Science is what I studied in school. I have a BSC. When you look deep into it, there is something so romantic about scientific language which is something that appeals to the musical side of us,” he said adding bassist/ vocalist Ben Nixon is the poet and artist of the group, hence the Ginsberg reference.
“I can’t remember the name of the poem. But we do a lot of spoken word in our shows,” he continued.
The original band met each other in Nelson while attending Selkirk College’s music program, where they also studied with Hurtin’ drummer Keenan Pezderic.
The released their second full length CD “Close Your Eyes and Listen,” in 2001. Their self titled debut was released in 2010.
They are currently looking forward to finally releasing the first in a set of four seven inch records inspired by the seasons. Each record will have four songs and have artwork inspired by the season. Instead they will release “Spring” in April.
“We were going to start with the winter record, but held off because we wanted to give ourselves time to promote the releases. That was the starting point. So it grew from that original idea,” Buckley continued adding the new records will also showcase their new sound.
“There’s a lot more complex arrangements and more instruments. And there are more vocal harmonies which we just touched on on the last record,” he continued.
“The music reflects the feeling of the seasons. Lyrically there are a lot of metaphors about the seasons. But there are also themes of romance and relationships,” he said.
“It’s more ambitious,” he summarized adding their Lethbridge show will include a lot of music, as much of the new music has been written.
“ The last time we played Lethbridge, we had all of the songs written for the Spring release,” he said adding they are almost done writing about Fall, but haven’t quite finished writing about summer.
“ I don’t think a project like this has ever been done before,” he said.
Since last playing Lethbridge at the Owl Acoustic Lounge in July, they have also had a slight line-up change as Paul Orton is now on board on guitar, joining Ben Nixon on bass, ukulele and vocals and engineering plus Buckley and drummer Cortney Osness.
“Brittany (Mahood who plays piano, melodica, percussion and sings) is on her own adventure in Australia. Paul Orton is Ben and my roommate, so we’re excited about it,” he said.
They are currently focused on organizing a tour around their seasons series including booking festivals.
In the meantime they are excited about playing Lethbridge.
“We don’t know a lot of people, there, but we’re looking forward to playing the new records and making new fans,” he said.
Locomotive Ghost plays Feb. 2 at the Slice at approximately 9:30 p.m. with Hurtin’.
