LISSA ALEXANDER
reporter@pqbnews.com
Patterns can be found in most music, but Morlove has taken that idea to the next level.
“We took weaving patterns and literally took the stitching and colouring and turned them into notes and chords and rhythm,” said co-founder of the music group, Corwin Fox. “And we would superimpose that with another weaving pattern or with a weird drum machine or with dance steps and turn that into music and overlay the two.”
Morlove is performing at the Errington Hall this Saturday, April 27 at 8 p.m.
Morlove began in 2007 with Fox and musician Miss Emily Brown (Emily Millard) around a campfire at a music festival in Wells, B.C. The group has expanded to include two others, a cellist and a violinist, and often, special guests.
The music has been described as exploratory orchestral folk.
Fox started playing guitar in 1993 while attending an art high school in Ottawa. Lots of interesting folks were playing music, he said, and he decided to trade his juggling balls in for a guitar.
But it was punk rock that floated his boat back then and he played the music exclusively for a couple of years until he got some instruction by friends and fellow band members on how to play other music as well.
Fox said he and Miss Emily wrote the songs on their last album, which was nominated for a Polaris Prize, but for this album they decided to co-write, so they needed a theme, he said. The new album, called Old Tomorrow, takes knitting patterns, folk legends, urban designs, moon and star cycles and other patterns and transforms them into music. Fox’s family has Scottish roots so he looked up his family’s tartan weaving pattern and made that into music.
“There’s four colours and it actually looks like music on a staff, it’s kind of cool,” he said. They literally turned the stitches into beats, making 24 stitches of black into 24 beats of F-, or four stitches of red into four beats of A-. Fox and Miss Emily would then add a melody that would tie it all together, touching on topics like DNA, family patterns and evolution.
Fox said they were constantly surprised at how things worked out, saying sometimes it felt like magic.
At the Errington Hall the group will sing lots of four and five part harmonies while playing strings, keyboard and the tabla (an Indian percussion instrument).
Tickets for the show are $20 at Cranky Dog Music in Parksville, Heaven on Earth in Qualicum Beach, and at the Errington Store. Twelve years and under is $5 at the door, and under five’s are free. For more on Morlove visit www.morlove.ca.