BY TARA McCARTHY
Crash the Car may be billed as Kyle Cashen’s solo project, but many artistic acquaintances helped make it a reality. The debut album, titled They Built Houses Here, is riddled with creative partnerships and Cashen feels it’s time to showcase the sum of its parts.
“At this point, I’m so satisfied with these songs. I’m so satisfied with this recording. I just want to share it with as many people as I can and the real treat of it all is to play them live,” Cashen says of the Crash the Car CD release concert on Nov. 19 at the Yukon Arts Centre.
“Experiencing them live and experiencing them on the record are going to be a little bit different. Part of what I really thrive on in Crash the Car is always making it different, but still playing the songs in a true fashion.”
His live performances present adaptations of his work. And while he attributes that to the often-spontaneous musical structure, it is also part of how Crash the Car developed.
“When we first started to make this record, Jordy [Walker] and I talked a bit and jammed a bit. But we weren’t really sure what direction it was going to take until Jordy and Micah [Smith] and I got together as a trio and jammed,” Cashen explains.
And he’s reaching back to that initial creation period for the release concert by inviting Walker and Smith on stage. Alongside Cashen, Walker will play drums and provide the electronic additions, while Smith plays bass and lap steel.
Accompanying vocals by Fiona Solon round out the mix.
“We’ve never played the songs with Fiona singing before. We only did it in the studio,” Cashen says. “So just having everybody on the stage at once … I’m really excited. It truly reflects what’s on the CD.”
Cashen is also using the evening as a platform for visual art by screening short films by Jessie Curell, Jessica Hall, as well as Joseph Tisiga and Fabienne Tessier.
“There’s so much room for interdisciplinary collaboration within arts. It makes a lot of sense to me to have a video shown before to set the mood for the music,” he says.
“In this case I really connect with all of these filmmakers and I think that a lot of the same emotions that I’m expressing through my music, they express through their films.”
Crash the Car’s CD release is on Nov. 19 at the YAC on the wing. Tickets are $15. Cashen also performs live at Triple J’s Music Café on Nov. 15.
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