{"id":324,"date":"2009-08-07T12:36:40","date_gmt":"2009-08-07T18:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=324"},"modified":"2009-08-07T12:36:40","modified_gmt":"2009-08-07T18:36:40","slug":"the-other-brothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2009\/08\/07\/the-other-brothers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Other Brothers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michael Elves<\/strong>
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\nReleased this spring, Points of View is a collaboration between Winnipeg singer-songwriters Chris Neufeld and Donovan Giesbrecht, who together are the Other Brothers. It\u2019s a subtle, gorgeous collection of folk tunes in the vein of Simon & Garfunkel. Unlike that famous duo, however, Neufeld and Giesbrecht are happy to talk to each other. But to really capture their points of view, Stylus asked each musician the exact same questions, separately, and the results, while not quite Rashomonesque, reveal some key differences between them, including the fact that one brother is a little more verbose than the other.<\/p>\n

Stylus: How did this collaboration come about?
\nDonovan Giesbrecht: <\/strong>We found ourselves playing the same volunteer gig for a few years in a row and started collaborating informally at these small shows. Things seemed to fit together pretty naturally, so we started wondering how we\u2019d sound if we actually practiced a bit and put some forethought into what we were doing. Chris and I are also good friends. Playing music together gives us another excuse to hang out and enjoy each other\u2019s music, especially now that I\u2019ve moved out of the city.
\nChris Neufeld: <\/strong>Mutual admiration of each other\u2019s songs and maybe a little boredom with our own. We\u2019d played some of the same gigs and realized it was fun to harmonize with each other.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Were there any stumbling blocks to working on and recording the album?
\nDG: <\/strong>The hardest part of this project has been simply finding the time to get things done. We\u2019re both new teachers. I have two young kids at home, and then there\u2019s the hour-and-a-half commute to deal with when we want to practice. That\u2019s been tough. On the positive side, Chris and I have had a really smooth relationship throughout this whole endeavor. You know, you often hear about interpersonal or artistic conflicts between musical partners or band members, but that simply does not happen with us.
\nCN: <\/strong>Donovan lives in Winkler. Loser. Plenty of driving and less in-person rehearsals than we\u2019d like (it takes me about 400 attempts to get a harmony part just right).<\/p>\n

Stylus: Why did you call yourselves the Other Brothers?
\nDG: <\/strong>We sound alike, we think alike, we\u2019re both skinny, slightly balding, with glasses. Kind of feels like we\u2019re brothers sometimes.
\nCN: <\/strong>A few reasons. One is that we\u2019re told we look and sound like brothers, and maybe we\u2019re hoping to fool a few: \u201cWow, listen! You can really tell they\u2019re brothers.\u201d Ha! Gotcha!<\/p>\n

Stylus: Each of you are responsible for writing individual songs on the album. With that in mind, how did you go about choosing what made the cut?
\nDG: <\/strong>Nothing fancy here. We spend a couple of weeks together playing songs for each other and trying to collaborate. We focused on the songs that seemed to work and then whittled the list down to five of mine and five of his.
\nCN:<\/strong> Mostly, songs that suited the duet style. Also, songs where the arrangements came naturally.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Which of your own songs is your favourite and why?
\nDG:<\/strong> My favourite on the album is \u201cForever Wrong.\u201d This feels like a real duet to me, a song where we really hit what we were aiming for. You can\u2019t always tell who is singing harmony and who has the melody. The song is sparse and yet full of feeling. When we perform, however, I really enjoy \u201cMany Ways to Love.\u201d I wrote this after the album was finished, and I just love how it comes off live. Chris and I have worked in a little whistle solo that always makes me happy.
\nCN: <\/strong>\u201cBy My Side.\u201d Simple love song theme and a hook that\u2019s fun to sing.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Which of your partner\u2019s songs is your favourite and why?
\nDG: <\/strong>I love \u201cSleep in the Sunshine.\u201d Again this is a great duet. The lyrics are signature Chris Neufeld: thoughtful but not overstated. The melody is interesting and yet simple. Chris is clearly one of my favourite songwriters. In this song I love the idea of sleeping in the sunshine while \u201cthere\u2019s a shadow in every room.\u201d Perfect.
\nCN: <\/strong>\u201cProgress.\u201d An important story simply told and a melody that never tires. Has the sense of an instant classic.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Did you find yourself writing your own material with the other brother\u2019s reaction in mind?
\nDG:<\/strong> I\u2019m not usually thinking about Chris\u2019 reaction, but I am starting to write with his part in mind, and I definitely look forward to sharing my new songs.
\nCN: <\/strong>Not during prep for the album. That was mostly just picking songs from each other\u2019s back catalogue that worked best. Now I think we\u2019re starting to write with the other in mind.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Looking forward, what are your ambitions or expectations with the Other Brothers?
\nDG: <\/strong>We haven\u2019t set our sights too high. Obviously, we don\u2019t expect fame and fortune.\u00a0 That said, we\u2019d love to play a few more gigs here and there, maybe get into the folk festival circuit, play some house concerts. We\u2019ve talked briefly about another album, but haven\u2019t really made concrete plans.
\nCN:<\/strong> More gigs and more new songs! Maybe collaborative writing. Maybe some fuller band arrangements.<\/p>\n

Stylus: Brothers sometimes squabble. Do you two disagree at all when it comes to making music?
\nDG: <\/strong>When we squabble, it\u2019s usually on stage. We\u2019re usually a bit nervous, and then we start bickering about little nothings, mocking each other, blaming each other for little screw-ups, etc., etc., always with a smirk on the face. We\u2019re a lot more interesting, even funnier, when we\u2019re nervous and on stage. Actually, these squabbles have a redeeming quality to them. Yep, I think they make our shows more enjoyable for us and our audience.
\nCN:<\/strong> Quite the opposite so far. I think we both have sort of\u201cpassive to a fault\u201d tendencies, so there are a lot of apologies and overly polite banter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Michael Elves Released this spring, Points of View is a collaboration between Winnipeg singer-songwriters Chris Neufeld and Donovan Giesbrecht, who together are the Other Brothers. It\u2019s a subtle, gorgeous collection of folk tunes in the vein of Simon & Garfunkel. Unlike that famous duo, however, Neufeld and Giesbrecht are happy to talk to each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[360,563],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-folk","tag-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}