Dance Movie Grooves To Pop Culture's Beat

Halifax-based trio Dance Movie are busting a move for the release of their debut EP, It's In The And.

Songwriter Tara Thorne, violinist Kinley Dowling and drummer Craig Jennex were in the throws of their indie-pop foxtrot April 3 at The Company House.

"The name comes from the film genre," says singer/guitarist Thorne. "I didn't want to perform under my own name, and Kinley and I both love dance movies. The godmother is of course Dirty Dancing, stretching through the Step Up series.

"I love musicals, too, but I don't mean MGM-style deals or Chicago. We're talking boy-meets-girl-meets-choreography."

It's In The And is a five-track EP that charts one particularly brutal east coast winter. Thorne had given up her job as arts editor of alt weekly The Coast to pursue making movies. With two short films under her belt, her pipe dream of becoming a full-time film maker dwindled and depression loomed.

"The last few years I've been doing projects whenever I have a lot of feelings and nowhere to put them. I made a film about unrequited love, I wrote a play about Law & Order, there was a spin-off film from the play," she says.

"When I started playing music I liked someone who didn't like me in the way I wanted them to, and that's what most of the shitty secret songs are about, which is way cheaper than making a movie. These songs are about that too, but presented with a little more finesse and craft, I like to think."

Thorne readily admits she's a pop culture addict. Her first song, "Liz Lemonade," was a revolutionary ode to Tina Fey's Liz Lemon 30 Rock character. It's In The And features "Carjack My Heart," an indie rock ode to an imaginary crime spree between Gilmore Girls' supermom Lorelai Gilmore and The O.C.'s Seth Cohen.

Thorne began her career playing bass in the early '90s influenced Sonic Youth-esque project Bloodsport, but has always been a fixture in the Halifax music scene. For years, she was at the lip of the stage singing along word for word any given night.

"I've been a journalist for 10 years here, so I know a lot of people by default, but in the past few years I've somehow ended up with this passel of friends who happen to be fucking awesome musicians," she says.

"When the opportunity arose to do Dance Movie, everyone was there with instant support. During that first solo show, I looked back at the bar and there in a line were Daniel Ledwell, Jenn Grant, Rose Cousins, Don Brownrigg and John Mullane from In-Flight Safety was doing sound, all these superheroes on their day off, watching me. It was surreal."

It's In The And was produced by Amelia Curran and recorded at the legendary Echo Chamber with Charles Austin and Dave Ewenson. Curran approached Thorne to take on the role of producer; a first for the 2010 Juno-nominated songwriter.

"Dance Movie is a bit of a throwback. It's angst and heart ache married to rising pop choruses and melodies," says Curran. "I'm a big fan of shoegazing stuff; I'll never graduate from the early '90s — Dance Movie reminds me of that era, only there's euphoric musical simplicity there. Each song is a mood swing; you're bound to be okay in the end."