Hit the sweet spot and make it last. On Native Other's debut EP the spot is found between yacht rock and surf rock, the sweet spot is just before you hit the water, make that linger longer, hang on the note just that be more, and you are close to the self-described “autocroon” of the Whitby/Oshawa four piece.
“I say we are indie rock with R&B, elements of deeply psychedelic levels of indie with more contemporary R&B, the new wave of R&B that is prominent in Toronto . . . I prefer the title autocroon,” says bassist Shawn Murphy as we chatted along with guitarist Chris Russo at Oshawa’s new indie hangout Brews Wizard.
photo by: Devon Little
Murphy had played in SETH and Russo in Viva Mars prior to joining singer/guitarist Curtis Skeete in Native Other with drummer SCOTT. The band had evolved through other members but settling firmly on the current line-up. They will release their debut, a four song EP If I Can Keep It Together Oct 7 2016
“We all got together, the four of us and played together for about a year before we stumbled upon what it is now. Chlorine is one of the songs on the EP, that was the first song we had written as this unit and then we were like, so this is what it will be,” says Russo. “So we fell into our roles in the band, and we found our voices as players and writers with each other and everything clicked. Now it has become a very comfortable process of playing together and writing and everyone jumps in when they have their ideas and when they can contribute the most”
When it came to the art Native Other also sought out one who could contribute the most. TO artist Fucci, a friend of Skeete, was asked to provide the cover.
“Curtis and I have an appreciation for checking out art,” says Murphy, “and one of my friend’s opened a gallery Blank Canvas Gallery, we went, saw Fucii on the wall and I thought it was fantastic. He’s been popping off lately, doing great things in the painting world. He listened to the songsfew times and made the piece based on how it made him feel, he called it If I Can Keep It Together, and we named the EP after the art."
Fucci’s work will be the cover of the band’s planned cassette release, no date as yet but the four songs are streaming online, premiering on ChartAttack.ca.