WL 362 – Sunday, May 6 – 11pm
Purveyors of: liberating the uke from annoying Hawaiian sing-alongs.

Montreal trio Sister Suvi have accomplished plenty in their short lifetime as a band; most recently the North American tour that closes with their Wavelength show on May 6th. In addition to amassing a collection of catchy and off-kilter songs, they’ve also done what few dare to do: They’ve rescued the much-overlooked ukulele from music’s kennel of forgotten underdog instruments, fed and groomed and nurtured it into the admirable canine capable of winning the Kentucky Derby. Taking some time during their busy tour to answer a few of Dan Taylor’s questions, the trio scribbled thoughtful answers on the dashboard of their Chevy Prizm as they drove through the night.

The first thing that struck me when listening to the band was instrumentation. The uke goes a long way towards defining the band's sound with the tone it creates and the chord voicings that get used. Was the band built around the instrument, or is it a layer that is added to the songs? Apart from helping to give the band a unique sound, do you ever feel limited by it, or that it dictates the feel of a song you're working on?

MERRILL: Well, Patrick and I started the band as a duo of nylon-string guitar and tenor ukulele, so it's always been a part of the sound. The uke was particularly problematic when Nico came in with drums; we did a lot of work to figure out how it would even be heard in a louder context. We cut a bunch of songs from our repertoire that weren't working anymore. We're still figuring it out and trying to make sure that the uke is never there arbitrarily, but only if it adds to the whole sound. Someday it might stop working, at which point I'll break it into a million pieces and set it on fire, live, onstage. Be there for that show.

Beyond the instrumentation, I was also drawn in by the band's use of rhythm. It comes across not only in the drums, but the instrumentation and even the vocals. There's a lot of creativity in the rhythmic presentation of the lyrics, and it adds as much to the songs as the melodies that are being sung. Does rhythm carry a special importance when you're composing?

MERRILL: Yes, rhythm is of utmost importance to me, especially since playing instruments is a relatively recent thing for me as a musician, as opposed to singing. I often use the uke as a percussive instrument rather than a melodic/harmonic one. I also have experience in arranging for vocal ensembles, in which there is great attention paid to the intersection of varied poly-rhythmic parts. So I tend to view the voice, even when singing lyrics, as a percussive texture. Sometimes I derive lyrics rhythmically instead of conceptually, so that might be why they come across as bizarre and nonsensical at times.

Does the band get put on hold when Patrick is needed with Islands?

PATRICK: Merrill has a solo project called tune-yards with uke and looping pedal. It's sort of a mixed blessing to have other commitments, because it means the time that we have for this band is sacred. When we can dedicate a month to Sister Suvi it means a lot to all of us, and it's something we look forward to and cherish.

NICO: I also play with a number of other bands in Toronto, including Pterodactyl, God's Gift to Yoda and The Lost Boys.

Though I've never seen you live, I've been to youtube and that is close enough. It looks like a lot of fun. Do live shows rate way above recording for you, or are they about even?

MERRILL: Live shows are where our focus is these days, and it's just a completely different experience from recording. For us, being a relatively young band, it's a priceless experience to go play our music for six people in Kalamazoo, and learn infinite amounts about listening to each other as musicians, how and when songs work or don't work, and how this music can sustain us on a pretty grueling DIY tour.

Montreal has had a lot of success in recent years with bands and artists reaching lots of international success, but it's also brought a lot of attention to acts whose music isn't as immediately accessible. What's your take on the Montreal buzz from the last few years? Any Montreal acts you feel have been passed over?

MERRILL: Montreal is an ideal city, in many ways, for artists; as with a lot of cities which have been overlooked or marginalized economically, there's a period of time where rents are cheap, food is cheap, and small art and music venues pop up all over the place. Montreal is also a small city, so pretty much everything is walkable or bikeable, and there's a culture of people going out to shows, and appreciating not only the headliner but the whole bill.

It makes sense that a lot of great bands have come out of this scene, and also that they end up being bands that have had a freedom of experimentation, using atypical instrumentation, collaborating with visual artists in the creation of a total band aesthetic, etc. We've been really lucky to reap the benefits of the city. If you want to talk about overlooked, you should talk first about the entirety of the Francophone music scene in Montreal…

PATRICK: Probably 75% of what goes on in the city is in French and has been exempt from coverage in the hype over the last couple years. It's also worth acknowledging that a huge portion of the musicians representing Montreal to the world over the last couple years are actually from English Canada and the States. This has to do with the magnetic pull of the city's culture, and isn't necessarily a bad thing, but should definitely be looked at. Anyway, a few bands making great music that haven't gotten much press are Torngat, the Coal Choir, Alden and Adam, Sharcut and Is That the Sound of My Voice?

Maybe I should have asked this question first because it's been the one occupying my mind the most, but oh well. Will there be puppets at the May 6th show?

PATRICK: Incorporating puppetry into what we do has been a long-time ambition of ours, but the spatial constraints of touring in a Chevy Prizm have killed that dream for the short term. We'll see though.

By Dan Taylor