Known for their quirky, French cabaret style and bilingual music, six-piece band Wintermitts is taking Canada by storm while touring for their newest album, Oceans.
Based in Vancouver, the indie-pop group has been working its way across the country, stopping in 13 cities over 16 days.
Originally consisting of just two members in 2005, Lise Oakley and David Mandel, the band has grown and changed over the past seven years, adding Jonny Healy, Shane McMillan, Swann Barrat, and Tina Tew, according to Aaron Pettigrew, the sixth member.
The name Wintermitts was taken from a Julie Doiron song.
“[Doiron] was in a band called Eric’s Trip, which is sort of a legendary east coast band, and Eric’s Trip’s name is taken from a Sonic Youth song. We took our name from a Julie Doiron song to kind of continue that sort of naming tradition,” Pettigrew says.
Another one of Wintermitts’ unique aspects is that they constantly swap instruments, such as the accordion, trumpet, and glockenspiel on stage.
“We have what we like to call a kind of a musical chair approach to playing music. Everybody brings a kind of unique set of strengths but I think one of the really compelling strengths of the group is that were all really versatile,” says Pettigrew.
Although the group switches swiftly between languages mid-song, only three members of the band are actually fluent in French, Pettigrew says.
“It’s [still] fun for us, and it’s interesting musically.”
The bilingual aspect of the group stemmed from main female vocalist Oakley, according to Pettigrew.
“It’s important to us as a band that that we keep trying to appeal to people who speak French and people who speak English in Canada to reflect that kind of cultural diversity.”
Pettigrew says although French-speaking people on the West Coast are in a slight minority position, the bilingual aspect works really well.
“The French songs have a certain flavour that’s really appealing and really evocative, and people seem to really like the accordion and the kind of like 1920’s Parisian feeling.”
Despite the apparent French cabaret theme present in Wintermitts’ music, Pettigrew says there’s no sole musical influence that helps shape their albums.
“Some of us are into electronic music, there’s a couple folks who are really into the sort of Canadian independent music scene. I listen to a lot of jazz, and there’s someone in the band whose really into cheesy R&B right now.”
Despite facing challenges such as playing smaller venues and traveling with their many instruments, Pettigrew says, “[The album] has got the themes of finding happiness [because] that’s the kind of feeling that emerges from making this music together.”
