The romance isn’t dead yet. Michael Wexler and his bandmates of Inlet Sound have spent the last two years keeping it alive.
The folk rock group based in Toronto have spent the last year playing and promoting their debut LP, The Romantics, with a feverish passion only capable of those whose blood runs in the recordings.
The lead single, “Magnetic North,” offers a dose of the heartfelt process that went into the record: “North is the way/To a new beginning/Frozen away/Silent bloody brimming hearts/Tethered and frayed/By my eye’s reflection.”
Wexler says the lengthy process of preparing the release was drenched in personal touches.
“[Keyboardist] Sean and myself sat down two summers ago,” he said over the phone from Hamilton. “We were sitting at this café one day and we were just talking about some of the songs we had and some of the things we wanted to do, and some of the things in our lives that we were struggling with.”
“I just remember us talking about this idea of feeling like we’re at this point in our life where everything is changing, and we’re starting to learn and to become adults,” Wexler said.
“And, you know, things that once seemed so romantic and wonderful and easy and beautiful, suddenly weren’t.”
“And sort of like coming to terms with the fact that we don’t want to lose that mutual innocence and that sense of romanticism. So for us at that point it was just about creating some sort of an emotional narrative to convey that.”
The group took the whole theme of romanticism to heart and beyond, going so far as to use remote gear to enable them to record in “romantic locations.”
“It kind of sets the tone for who you are,” Wexler said of the idea of a debut, that he said was made “on [their] own pace.”
The rootsy, beautiful arrangements on the record are indicative of the band’s approach and philosophy.
“Obviously we wanted things to sound a certain way, and working with [Canadian producer Laurence Currie] and … spending all this time planning the songs and figuring out arrangements, we slowly learnt that we are a band who focuses more on natural sounding instruments,” Wexler said.
“Earlier in the process we were talking about adding synths and things like that, which eventually changed into, ‘Okay, we’re gonna use organ sounds cause it’s more natural, it’s organic, it really works a lot better for our musical aesthetic.’”
Despite the honesty and gentle sounds found on The Romantics, Wexler acknowledges that everyone is different. The same process that struck creative gold for Inlet might not be the same process for, say, deadmau5.
“I think no matter what you’re making, whether it’s electro or rootsy or whatever, as long as it’s you, as long as it’s not you trying to be someone,” Wexler said.
Wexler and Inlet Sound will be playing along with Ottawa indie-rock group Amos the Transparent on March 16 at Zaphod Beeblebrox.
