Are you riddled with questions about life, death, love, anxiety or how to fight the tightening grip of late stage capitalism? If so, Silver Pools new album, Chroma, has no answers for you. However, what it does offer is some company and a collection of catchy and dreamy songs for you to swim alongside.
Out August 20, via new imprint Modern Laundry Recording Club, Chroma is Silver Pools’ sophomore album, the first full-length since their 2016 debut, Memoirs Of An Oblong Sphere. Silver Pools began as the solo project of musician and producer Todd Macdonald (The Winks, Norvaiza) and has grown during the making of the album to include visual artist Miranda Crabtree on vocals and keyboards and video director Adrienne McLaren on vocals & bass.
The group’s first single from the LP, “Beach Cloud (Lay Down In The Road)” comes complete with a video from McLaren produced in Blender. Of the song, Macdonald says : “A sunny morning a few years ago I opened my windows to let in some fresh spring air. CBC Radio was playing a lovely Ravel piece and then a news announcement came on that a toxic bleach cloud had escaped a factory in the west end of Toronto. I closed my window and wrote the first few lines of this song which are also inspired by feelings of frustration and hopelessness at the rise of populist political leaders.”
MORE ABOUT CHROMA
The songs are based on universal themes: relationships, dreams, mental health, politics, and mortality but are woven in the surreal and symbolist style Macdonald has been developing since his days in the 2000s dadaist baroque punk band, The Winks. Chroma features a wide spectrum of sounds, colours and textures; a delicate mixture of acoustic instruments, analogue synths, drum machines, live percussion, samples, electronics and intimate vocals. The lush production was influenced by countless recordings but the main stand outs are the album Faith by The Cure and the work of John Collins and David Carswell, most notably on Destroyer’s album Kaputt. The latter duo (also known as JC/DC) were a more direct influence on Macdonald. In the mid 2000s, JC/DC produced The Winks’ Birthday Party (2006) album and Macdonald played mandolin on two songs on the The New Pornographers’ Twin Cinema (2005) album which they also produced.
Chroma is also greatly enriched by the talented guest musicians that appear on the album. Macdonald met many of them while working at the downtown Toronto music store and electronic music hub, Moog Audio, which has recently had to close its doors due to the pandemic. Prolific electronic music producer Matt Thibideau (Altitude, Graham Van Pelt, Regina Gently, Repair) co-produced the song “Farmhouse” and also added synths to “Crushed Hat”. Dustin Good played and programmed synths on “Farmhouse” and “Bleach Cloud (Lay Down in the Road)” and Tim Adams and Mario Anzola (Anzola) added live drums to “A Kiss For The Swimmer” and “Digital Race” respectively. Artist and designer Andy Vella (The Cure, The Rolling Stones, St. Vincent) created the stunning artwork for Chroma; mirroring the music by blending organic textures and paint brush flourishes with bright digital colours and fonts.
