{"id":9631,"date":"2014-10-28T13:30:36","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T13:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=9631"},"modified":"2014-10-28T13:30:36","modified_gmt":"2014-10-28T13:30:36","slug":"last-ditch-on-the-left-last-ditch-on-the-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2014\/10\/28\/last-ditch-on-the-left-last-ditch-on-the-left\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Ditch on The Left \u2013 Last Ditch on the Left"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/2014\/10\/28\/last-ditch-on-the-left-last-ditch-on-the-left\/a2999391421_10\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9632\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-9632\" src=\"http:\/\/www.stylusmagazine.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/a2999391421_10-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"a2999391421_10\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Last Ditch on the Left\u2019s self-titled debut may be the first time Kerri Stephens and Brent Warren have teamed up to make a full-length record together, but they are, by far, no strangers to making music.<!--more--> Warren is a highly sought-after guitar wizard, and Stephens has made her mark with a solo career buoyed by her beautiful, delicate voice. The combination of the two is like rubbing two sticks together, sparks flying, making for a subtly gorgeous debut that burns soft and bright, and finds the couple sweeping out the ashes in the morning together.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a real down-home and pretty piece of Americana that can\u2019t help but conjure up visions of the Prairies, with Warren\u2019s deep, raspy voice complementing Stephens\u2019 nuanced warble on tracks like the front-porch swing of \u201cAnjalee\u201d and the finger-picked jaunt of \u201cBind My Heart Forever.\u201d About halfway through, things get dark and stormy on the excellent \u201cTrust In Me,\u201d a slow-rising, knockout vocal performance by Stephens, accompanied by subtle guitar and haunting piano, that sounds like it could only have been crafted in a big empty house overlooking a cool lake with black clouds rolling in.<\/p>\n<p>The duo save the very best for last, though, with \u201cMade The News,\u201d featuring Winnipeg ex-pat, co-writer and tourmate Matt Epp on backing vocals. It\u2019s a simple, emotional love song, stripped of anything but beautiful melody and quietly powerful performances, where Warren and Stephens sing, \u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re stuck in holes we\u2019ve dug around ourselves and those we love\/a fear of letting lovers free\/we speak of how it used to be.\u201d It\u2019s a record that perfectly encapsulates the same situation it was likely born from: sitting in a Wolseley backyard trading songs back and forth, enjoying someone\u2019s company, twilight rolling in and the Prairie summer heat drifting off into the darkness. (Two Small Houses Records, <a href=\"lastditchontheleft.com\" target=\"_blank\">lastditchontheleft.com<\/a>) <b>Matt Williams<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Ditch on the Left\u2019s self-titled debut may be the first time Kerri Stephens and Brent Warren have teamed up to make a full-length record together, but they are, by far, no strangers to making music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[563],"class_list":["post-9631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9631","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}