The Haven Social Club

I have to get two things off my chest right away: 1) The Neighbourhood Council is so young—its four members are barely legal, but they are musically wise well beyond their years. 2) The Neighbourhood Council is also Calgary’s most exciting and forward-looking band. And last month they celebrated just their first year of playing together, already a full 180 degrees from where they started.

So what’s in a year? When we first heard from the Council, they were fresh off a deserved win at the ‘07 Calgary Folk Fest youth songwriters’ contest. By June they were playing one of the inaugural Sled Island Festival’s finest sets, followed shortly thereafter by a packed appearance at the Folk Fest itself. Half a year later the Council of ‘08 bears little resemblance to the plucky five-piece that appeared on Prince’s Island.

“The old songs all came from a bedroom, and it’s all completely moved away from a bedroom now,” says 18-year-old Raphaelle Standell-Preston, who more often than not handles lead-vocal duties (all Council members take turns as the front-person). “It’s a collective, and that’s why it’s changed so much—we’ve gotten to know each other better.”

A democracy of sound in action, the group moved from its earliest indie-pop charms and dove headfirst into the sonic territories mined by the likes of Animal Collective and Calgary compatriots Azeda Booth. The results, captured on the new CJSW Sessions EP, are incredible: not only is one of the best local CDs in recent memory recorded live on college radio and packaged in paper sleeves, individually spray-painted with hand-written labels, in just four songs The Neighbourhood Council packs in more brilliantly executed ideas than some bands manage across entire albums. And it all comes off with effortless glee.

The opener, “Of People,” is a flawless experiment in sound and structure—five minutes and 43 seconds during which it’s practically impossible to keep still. For Standell-Preston & Co., the possibilities are endless. “We all know that we can go a lot deeper,” she says, “and we have the ability and connection with each other to do that.”
-Mark Hamilton, The Calgary Herald