Dandi Wind's Dark Period

12/10/08 5:39pm

by Sarah Kurchak (CHARTattack)

The release of a long-awaited album that's been caught up in red tape can be a bittersweet experience for a band. As exciting as it is to finally share that music with the world, chances are you've written plenty of material since that album that's just as — if not more — exciting.

Such is the case for Dandi Wind and her partner, Szam Findlay, and their new Yolk Of The Golden Egg.

"We're still really proud of this album, but we've just had label and business problems, so it's difficult," says Wind. "The album was finished in 2006.

"So obviously we're pretty detached from it now. We finished it in 2006 and, due to complications with the label, it didn't get released until now. At the beginning of 2008, we went over it again and we took some of the older songs out and put some new songs in to have a fresher feeling for us. But really, Yolk Of The Golden Egg, that title, should have come out in 2006."

Promoting the album can also pose some interesting challenges.

"I wrote the lyrics for these songs so long ago that, before this interview, I had to look at the track listing again to remind myself what was on there," says Wind. "Because actually we've written two full albums post-Yolk, so yeah. It's sort of weird."

Discussing the album can also be painful for Wind because of the very personal material contained in some of the songs.

"Writing the album was a really dark time for us. And in fact, for me, having to promote this album now is really difficult because this was probably the most depressing, darkest time of our lives."

Wind and Findlay are in a better place, both physically and mentally, in some ways now. But Wind insists that the material they've written since Yolk is far from a sunny rise from the ashes. The duo have a whole new set of issues that they're working out through their music.

"This album is basically Montreal-ey," explains Wind. "We did the whole album in Verdun/Montreal, and the album that we're doing now is a Vancouver album.

"I guess where you're living affects the way you feel, and Vancouver is so different than Montreal. Montreal, of course, is an artist's city and it costs a lot less to live there, but it's so cold. Just the cold and the dark can also make you depressed.

"Where in Vancouver, the things that makes me angry about here are so different. Like, for the last few months, it's been really sunny and warm, and it's the most beautiful city in the world. The things that make me angry about it are just the fact that it's retardedly expensive and too clean and there's no artists there.

"So basically, I feel that, wherever I live, the lyrics come out of that. And so, because I'm back in Vancouver now, the album has a different sound and different feeling. I really feel like Yolk Of The Golden Egg has a sort of wintery feel, which is really inspired by the cold, cold east coast winter. And I guess the new album is... it's not like we're less depressed.

"We still are depressed, but we're in a kind of fake Hollywood kind of city, so it's a different vibe."