LONG LIVE THE QUEEN IS AN ARTS AND MUSIC FESTIVAL IN HALIFAX CURATED BY MUSICIANS FOR THEIR COMMUNITY MAY 21-23.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Cousins




Recently Halifax lost another of its finest. As she was packing to leave, this friend, Molly we'll call her, realized Cousins' music was missing. She couldn't find it in her computer, in her purse, her suitcases, it wasn't in her head where she usually kept it. Another friend, Katie, let's say, got a phone call from Molly. "I can't leave without my North end anthems!" came screaming out of the ear piece.

Each summer, the population of Halifax decreases by 20 per cent. About six universities inspire the consistent ebb and flow of people coming and going in this city. I know this transience has stolen a bunch of your friends. In fact, you can talk about it with Cousins' Aaron Mangle, he wrote a perfect song about it.
Please don't make me draw a circle round my friends
Don't make me build a fence around them
I'll tie a rope around their waists and pull them in close
I'll tie a rope around them

...My dear Halifax why you'd let them go
every few months the cool ship sets sail
the finest, the finest,
they all leave in turn
the finest the finest the finest...

Aaron's delicate falsetto sits atop "jangly, echoing and chunky guitar complimented by loud and syncopated drums."Cousins have been helped along by an impressive roster of Canada's finest, including members of Museum Pieces, Room Doom and Crowd Power. The recent release of a split cassette tape with Duzheknew has been much anticipated, and really awesome. "Inspiration is drawn from scraps of paper written by children, news stories about teens smashing cars, and narratives inferred from old 35mm slides."


Is it something in the water? Often I'm convinced the friends who move away don't even really want to that much, they just think they should. But when you live in one place for so long, you need a change. And yes, The Queen understands, but no, she don't like it.

-The Queen

This post is dedicated to some of The Queen's finest who have set sail on the cool ship: Chloe, Brett, Katie, Rach, Tate, Andy, Lilith, Emily, Dallin, Jordan, Anna, Joseph, Stacy, Greg, Jef, Ben, Steph

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