The Acorn's New Album Has A Mother's Touch

10/10/07 5:30pm

by Alyssa Noel (CHARTattack)

Rolf Klausener is standing at the base of a mountain of success. But he doesn't know that his band are on the brink of this expedition. Or if he does, he's erring on the side of caution. And so fans and critics have taken the liberty to pin The Acorn as one of Canada's next big indie breakout acts.

"I hope people like the record, which isn't really different than any other artist," Klausener said last week, while waiting for his ride to pick him up and take him to the Pop Montreal festival, where he backed up singer Andy Swan. "But it's kind of like someone telling you they're going to buy you a really nice Christmas present, and not really knowing if they're going to buy it or not."

The reason for the hype surrounding the Ottawa band is their latest album, Glory Hope Mountain, which was released by Paper Bag Records on Sept. 25. The record is elaborate yet accessible, and marked by its flawless swoops between fragile and triumphant moments.

But aside from the LP's musical value, it also boasts an irresistible back story that's sure to endear the group to new ears. The title translates loosely from Gloria Esperanza Montoya, Klausener's mother's name and the subject of the album.

This obviously isn't an ode to a woman who grew up in white picket fence suburbia. Montoya was born in Honduras, fled an abusive father at age 12 and eventually found herself in Montreal without a home and unable to speak either French or English. Klausener always knew the barebones version of the story, but following an instinct that it might make good material for an album, he sat down with his mother for eight hours of interviews over the span of two months to learn more.

"It was a pretty emotional process," he recalls. "At times, it was very matter-of-fact.

"There were a couple of sessions where she would just tell me some very basic stuff and then there were other sessions that were incredibly gut-wrenching and hard to hear. It was hard for her. She's an open book, but at the same time if something bad has happened, she'll just leave it behind. She's really good at leaving the bad stuff behind, so to drudge up all this stuff was challenging for her."

Klausener became curious about Honduran culture and did additional research. By chance, he came across three Smithsonian recordings of Honduran folk music from the '50s and '60s. He initially didn't have any intention of incorporating those sounds into the album.

"The whole time it was a very secondary element to the process. We were all conscious of the fact that we didn't want to just record another rock record. We were interested in exploring other traditions, other palates and other colours, and this was exactly the palate I was looking for. Obviously, it's good that it came from the culture my mother grew up in, but I loved what I found."

Here are The Acorn's tour dates:

Oct. 11 Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
Oct. 12 Kingston, ON @ Grad Club
Oct. 13 Ottawa, ON @ Barrymore's
Oct. 18 London, ON @ Call The Office
Oct. 19 Guelph, ON @ Vinyl
Oct. 20 Windsor, ON @ Avalon Front
Oct. 25 Sault Ste. Marie, ON @ Gallery Lounge
Oct. 26 Thunder Bay, ON @ The Outpost
Oct. 27 Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Centre
Oct. 28 Saskatoon, SK @ Louis' Pub
Oct. 30 Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room
Oct. 31 Lethbridge, AB @ The Slice
Nov. 2 Vancouver, BC @ The Plaza
Nov. 3 Victoria, BC @ Logan's
Nov. 5 Calgary, AB @ Broken City
Nov. 6 Regina, SK @ The Lazy Owl
Nov. 24 Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern