Amanita Bloom
If you scratch below the surface of the Montreal-based band Amanita Bloom, you'll hear more than the generic music etiquette that could describe their sound. Braised with punk upbringings, psychedelia, folk songwriting aesthetics and a longing for the youthful sadness of the early American Bluesmen, Amanita Bloom are a passionate marriage of melancholy and optimism, dipped in a dystopian love-story. Pack all this into a perfect 40-minute dark pop album and you have Amanita Bloom's debut full length Furniture Music, in stores on October 26th 2010 on Machette Records.
Formed by Etienne Morin (The Aversions), Frederic Charest (ex-Royal Mountain Band), Dominic Leclerc and Philippe Skeene (who has just replaced Warren Auld on drums), the band is already well known from the Montreal local scene and created a considerable hype playing many shows here and around since its debut in 2008. Furniture Music has been recorded & mixed by Philippe Hamelin at Phil's Magical Studio
Press quotes
The band is spearheaded by singer-songwriter Etienne Morin (ex-The Aversions) and as a whole, they concoct a deliciously catchy aural candy of pop and rock stock, but keep their batch fresh by dousing their sounds with eerie organ, tom tom leads, slide guitar, some serious forays into the stratosphere of the unscripted and improvised, and a cool country blues noir vibe.
Steve Guimond, Nightlife, September 2010
Parlez-moi d'un band qui connaît son rock noir! Jeune quatuor formé d'ex-Aversions et d'ex-Royal City Mountain Band, Amanita Bloom combine juste les bons ingrédients, dans ce premier album sur mesure pour la grisaille automnale: touches de country, de blues, de grunge et de post-rock, généreuses portions d'orgue et de rhodes, présence occasionnelle de cordes et de cuivres, de l'austérité en masse, mais aussi un bon sens mélodique. 4 étoiles
Olivier Lalande, Voir, 28 octobre 2010
Le quatuor québécois agence à merveille la guitare acoustique à un son rock bien assumé. Les arrangements musicaux et la voix rauque et mélancolique du chanteur Étienne Morin valent aussi le détour.
Mathieu Horth Gagné, Journal Metro, 28 octobre 2010