{"id":12713,"date":"2024-07-23T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=12713"},"modified":"2026-05-07T19:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T00:33:08","slug":"ep-review-prairie-prairie-demos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2024\/07\/23\/ep-review-prairie-prairie-demos\/","title":{"rendered":"EP Review :: Prairie :: Prairie (demos)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0035143407_10-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Band members sit in a field of praire grass staring either into the distance or with eyes closed in either early spring or late fall with a smattering of snow on the ground.\" class=\"wp-image-12714\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0035143407_10-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0035143407_10-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0035143407_10-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0035143407_10-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0035143407_10-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/0035143407_10.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By Mykhailo Vil\u2019yamson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s not often that one is privileged to hear demo recordings as a band\u2019s first release, as so much of the \u201cmusic industry\u201d remains built on making public only the most curated versions of an artist\u2019s material. But there\u2019s something alluring about being able to hear the earliest incarnation of a group \u2013 before the stratification, calcifying and polishing of fully-produced albums. It\u2019s reminiscent of bygone days when musician friends would share cassettes with each other of the latest songs they wrote, asking: \u201cWhat do you think of this?\u201d As for&nbsp; this collection, I\u2019d say: \u201cSounds bloody brilliant! Can\u2019t wait to hear what\u2019s next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>This four-song digital \u201ctape\u201d unassumingly came out on February 20<sup>th<\/sup>, and has the air of a furtively recorded lo-fi bootleg. Prairie is the new project of Dawson Reynolds (Poodle Paddle), Ian Tata (Julien\u2019s Daughter), Val Podlesnaia, and frontperson Moss Queen. Self-described as fitting into the categories of alternative, shoegaze and stoner rock, they have a strong 90s indie revival feel \u2013 fuzzy guitar, subdued vocals, modest bass, and brawny drumming. The first two songs \u2013 \u201cSamsa\u201d and \u201cSiren Song\u201d \u2013 are more minor in tone; a captivatingly repeated riff carrying the former, and an atmospheric, spacey reverb inhabiting the latter. As for the other two tracks, \u201cTurn Blue\u201d is brighter, more chill and features vocalizations as opposed to vocals, while \u201cBat, Rats, and Alley Cats\u201d seems the most formed structurally and lyrically (and includes an intensely delivered line about needing to get home to feed one\u2019s cat).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What <em>Prairie (demos)<\/em> reveals is a mere glimpse of what to expect from the band, which is to say that this from-the-floor EP is a very good portend of things to come. In other words, if these are just the demos, it bodes really well for both upcoming live shows and studio recordings. While you wait, find Prairie at prairieband.bandcamp and on IG via prairie.band. And if you\u2019re looking for the cover art, it\u2019s from a collection of poetry called \u201cDesire Lines\u201d (poems by Dawson Reynolds \/ art by Val P).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mykhailo Vil\u2019yamson It\u2019s not often that one is privileged to hear demo recordings as a band\u2019s first release, as so much of the \u201cmusic industry\u201d remains built on making public only the most curated versions of an artist\u2019s material. But there\u2019s something alluring about being able to hear the earliest incarnation of a group [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1646,1484,563,1645,796,1104],"class_list":["post-12713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-demos","tag-ep-review","tag-local","tag-prairie","tag-review","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12715,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12713\/revisions\/12715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}