The Dearly Bereft

Everyone’s heard of wedding bands, but as far as Google can tell, The Dearly Bereft are Toronto’s first funeral band. “We joke that we tried to hire ourselves out as funeral entertainment,” the band jokes, “but there were no takers, so we decided to make a record instead.” Morbid humor aside, this is not far from the truth. Ben VanBuskirk and Mike Millar first conceived of this project when they played Ben’s father’s funeral. Working as both a tribute to Randy VanBuskirk and a way to work through the grief and confusion that comes after a loss, they started writing songs almost immediately, Not that this was a new arrangement. The duo have been playing as one half of The Dank in Toronto for the better part of a decade. But where their previous band was known for their sonic assault and feedback-laden live shows, this new project is decidedly more atmospheric. “We started as pretty much an acoustic duo, “ says Ben, “but immediately we knew my voice wasn’t going to do the material justice.” And they knew the skeletal songs could go in a number of directions. Enter Anna Navrota (vocals), Shane Burrow (drums), and Cyrus Bapooji (keyboards). The bands came together as friends and peers, having played (and drank) together for years through their other projects, many and varied. With a pedigree including members of Revolution Love, BingeNinja, Hormoans, et al, there’s no denying the talent on tap, there could be no doubt that the results would be interesting, to put it mildly. The twist? Each member has taken on a new instrument for the band. After a quick warm up show, the band immediately went into the studio with local hero Shawn Hook-Carleton (Starhip Experience, The John Holmes Book Club) behind the board. The band describes the atmosphere that came out of those sessions as “pure black magic.” “The idea was to do something really droney and shoegazey,” states Burrow, “and there are still definitely elements of that, but once we started laying down tracks it turned into a very song-oriented pop record.” By turns dreamy, melancholy, and joyous, Funeral Music is and album in an age where few artists think in long form. It’s also not an easy listen. Jumping from trip-hop to blues to folk-punk, the unifying factor is a bent towards staring mortality down and accepting it. But the message, as summed up in the album’s Vonnegut-referencing final track, “So It Goes”, is one of living in the moment. “We’re still alive,” the chorus goes, “so let’s make some noise for us.” The Dearly Bereft have certainly done that. The Dearly Bereft-Funeral Music is available November 13th through iTunes, Amazon, HMV, and Bandcamp. Dancing at the funeral party, put your black shoes on. But we're still alive, so let's make some noise for us. http://thedearlybereft.bandcamp.com