It’s a little known fact that The Aural Kinetic can see into your future! “Oh yeah? Prove it!” Okay, here goes! You will fall in love with Weathered Pines sixteen seconds into their first song, “Solitaire”. Click!

“Last night you were drunk upon my porch,
Wishin’ that the sun would rise again…”

Ta-daa! Done and done. Now I know what you’re thinking. How did they do that? Well I’d tell you but this article isn’t about our amazing and mystical powers, but rather the sheer awesomeness that is Weathered Pines first release The Sky Between the Buildings (Dejlig Records).

Any band claiming to be influenced by Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons and Neil Young had better bring the country in a big way, and in all respects Weathered Pines have crafted an LP that does not disappoint. Not only is this a country music album, but a true and authentic country music album at that! All the major themes that you would expect to find are represented here: Love and heartbreak, good fortune and hard times, hope and despair. The duality of country itself is evident in the music, lyrics and song titles (“Head in the Clouds” and “Can’t Win”, for example) but the real selling point of this album is the voice on Marissa Johnson.

How in the world a girl from Vancouver ended up with such a perfect voice for country singing, we’ll never know. She’s fantastic throughout the album, but it’s tracks like “Head in the Clouds” and “Me and the Sea” – songs with a sparser and quieter musical arrangements – that she really shines. Depending on the song she is at times crystal clear (“Solitaire”) and at other times rough around the edges (“Can’t Win”). It’s an exceptional performance from start to finish, and one which I personally feel shows Johnson’s commitment to the band and the history of the genre. And if her performance on “Sad Song” isn’t every bit as good as anything Emmylou Harris has recorded, I’ll eat my hat.

But what would a country band be without the players? Johnson herself plays rhythm guitar throughout the album and really holds everything together with a style that’ll remind you of Johnny Cash. Bryce Janssens’ lead guitar and old-school solos (“Six Feet Down”) are a flawlessly executed necessity, and Steve Matheson is an absolute gem on the bass guitar. Check out his bump-ba-bump-ba-bump on “Don’t Be Late” in particular. It’s great stuff in the vein of Marshall Grant from the Tennessee Three. And last, but far from least, is Conrad Dykman on percussion. Country bands, almost more than any other genre of music, need a solid man on the kit and Dykman delivers in the grand tradition of “Fluke” Holland from the original Sun recordings.

If not for the fact that The Sky Between the Buildings has an official release date of January 25th, 2010, this would have certainly placed highly in our top five picks of this year. It’s an amazing effort on the part of the band and the newly minted Dejlig (pronounced Dai-lee) Records, and hopefully we’ll be hearing a lot more from both in the very near future. Great job you guys!