THUNDER BAY - For the second time in two years, the Good Lovelies are returning to the stage in Thunder Bay, and though they are bringing a new sound with the same three voices, something that has travelled with them on the road for years and helped define their sound, is staying home.
“The mandolin is staying home, which I think is a first for our career,” said Sue Passmore. “We’ve had the mandolin on stage with us for years and so far this year with this record, it is not making an appearance.”
Passmore, along with Caroline Brooks and Kerri Ough, who make up the Juno Award winning folk trio from Toronto, are kicking off a western Canadian tour this week and will be playing in Thunder Bay once again on June 2.
The tour will see them playing eight shows in just 10 days, starting in London, Ont. and wrapping up in Victoria, B.C. Passmore said in many ways, getting back on the road will be like a return to their roots, and aside from leaving the mandolin behind, this tour will include a lot of firsts for the trio.
The Good Lovelies usually take to the stage as a trio, but this time they are travelling with a full band and the up-and-coming opening act, Moscow Apartment.
“We haven’t had the chance to bring somebody on the road with us and they are doing so well,” Passmore said. “They are still finishing up high school at this point, but they’ve done so well. Their music is fantastic and it’s going to be wonderful having them on the road.”
This latest tour is to promote their sixth full-length album, Shapeshifters, and the name says it all when it comes to describing how the Good Lovelies sound has changed.
According to Passmore, the album leans more toward the direction of pop and is perhaps their most mainstream release since they entered the Canadian music scene with their 2007 EP, Oh My!
“Not so far it’s wildly different, but there are certainly new sounds,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of keys and a lot of different electrical guitars went onto this record, the drums are fantastic on this record.”
“It refreshes us,” Passmore continued. “We feel refreshed. It’s quite a fun sound.”
Working with Daniel Ledwell in the studio, Passmore said there was no outside pressure to stray away from their folk roots and create more of a pop sound. The progression was very natural.
“It was something that naturally happened in the studio,” she said. “We didn’t go into it thinking or deciding that we were going to go make a pop record. [Ledwell] has a really good ear for those songs and he tried some things and we tried some things and it’s just what happened. It’s just diving into different places that we haven’t really done before.”
Shapeshifters, released in February, has already received positive reviews from both critics and fans, and the first single, I See Gold, reached number one on the CBC Radio 2 Top 20 in January.
But despite the trio trying new things in the studio that they have never done before, there are some things that just can’t be changed, which is why the Good Lovelies have not shifted away from what has shaped them for the last 11 years.
“It’s still the same writers and the same voices,” Passmore said. “We want to write and speak to the things that are important to us, that are important in our lives and what’s happening in our lives. There are certainly things about family and motherhood and all kinds of things that are coming into our lives.”
The Good Lovelies will be playing at the Port Arthur Polish Hall on Saturday, June 2 at 7 p.m. Audiences can expect to hear songs from the latest release, and many past favourites. And even without the help of the mandolin and a slightly new sound, the trio is still very much the Good Lovelies.
“So it’s a slight step away from folk and a little bit more pop, but it’s always the three of us singing,” Passmore said. “So that part still holds true and definitely some of our roots in there for sure.”
