by Bob Keeley
As an American born in the mid-20th century, I grew up with the idea that Native Americans (who at the time I knew as “Indians”) were either those whom white settlers had to fight against or were friendly sidekicks to folks like the Lone Ranger. As I grew older, though, I realized that those popular stereotypes covered over a lot of the injustice and pain that indigenous people experienced as they were forced from their land and often mistreated by white settlers and even by the government. It turns out that the same sort of things happened to the indigenous people of Canada (often called First Nations peoples) as well. (It is not surprising that I didn’t learn this since that my education in New Jersey told me almost nothing about our northern neighbors.) But the two members of Crown Lands, Cody Bowles and Kevin Comeau, have made communicating those issues a key part of their music. They made a bit of a splash as they came on the music scene with their first two full length albums released on Universal, a self-titled debut and 2023’s Fearless. These albums were highly progressive in nature with a noticeable influence from their fellow Canadians Rush.
Before diving back into a new rock album, though, the duo has put together two EPs, about thirty minutes each in length, of music that is almost as far from their rock albums as one can get. Both Ritual I and Ritual II, now on InsideOutMusic, are ambient albums inspired by indigenous people groups of Canada, using flutes and percussion, and synths to form layers of music that is both calming and challenging. While many of the percussion instruments come out of Bowles’ study of West African instruments, the mix of old and new makes for an interesting set of pieces – it isn’t quite right to call them “songs” – the longest under 8 minutes, that invite the listener to just be as the music washes over us.
Most tracks have a pulse that is based in something other than a standard rock drum kit. The use of indigenous flutes is one of the characteristics of the music that quickly reminds us that this is music informed by cultures that are not well-represented in most rock music. On first listen the intonation of the flutes may be challenging to the sense of Western tuning that many of us are accustomed to, but by the second listen you may find, as I did, that it helped me see the music as something more than just ambient sounds but that by doing this, Bowles and Comeau are communicating something that is important to them about their heritage.
Ritual I and Ritual II are not going to be for everyone, but you might find yourself pleasantly surprised at how often you end up coming back to it. If the idea of being progressive is trying new things and continuing to experiment and move forward, then that spirit is certainly present here. It will be really interesting to see how these two projects inform Crown Lands’ rock music going forward.
Stream ‘Ritual I & II’ below.
https://crownlandsmusic.lnk.to/RitualOne
https://crownlandsmusic.lnk.to/RitualTwo
Pre-order now on transparent orange 2LP (UK/EU/Canada) or transparent light blue 2LP (USA), for a 3rd October release here: https://crownlandsmusic.lnk.to/RitualVinyl
Ritual I
1. Dawn 06:21
2. The Storm 05:51
3. Vigil 03:06
4. Dusk 06:15
5. The Serpent 07:17
Ritual II
1. Tempest 07:14
2. Respite 04:40
3. Shadows Under Moonlight 05:05
4. Mirage 04:21
5. In The Reeds 03:41
6. Celestial Marsh 06:07
