Dyalek

Misinterpretations

Dyalek’s debut Album - a sound inspired both from classical and modern jazz music.

”Dyalek’s debut CD is a killer set of modern jazz tracks…tons of improv, super melodic, totally tasteful.”

- Jason Jaknunas, Metropolitain Studios, Ottawa

The recording of the album

The album Misinterpretations is recorded live off the floor. No overdubbing was made except for the trumpet on See One. Everything else is done in real time with no special effects added. The core of the band is Denis Haché (piano) and Andrew Letourneau (drums). The other musicians on the record are special guests who contribute to the overall feel and sound of the album.

Half of the tracks on Misinterpretation were recorded in Ottawa, Ontario and other half in Dalhousie, New Brunswick, with different instrumentation line up and rooms in each town. To an extent the tracks recorded in Ottawa have an old saloon like sound and the tracks recorded in Dalhousie have more of a live concert feel.

The story of the recording all began when they were searching for the perfect rooms to record in. They wanted to do a live off the floor recording with a great sounding room and feel and essentially it had to have some kind of grand piano…Of other importance they wanted to record with guest musicians that had great ability to improvise.

At the end of 2006 they looked at many possibilities in Ottawa and really dug the room feel at Friday’s steak house, a little restaurant with a piano parlour. A rickety old piano in a nice size room (~40 seats) with high ceilings gave us a very distinct sound. Ken Dolan the owner at Fridays was very helpful by letting them do an afternoon of recording there. Accompanied by the talented improvisator Linsey Wellman on saxophone they recorded three of the six tracks on the album.

For the other part of the recording story… Dyalek core members, Denis Haché and Andrew Letourneau are from the small town of Dalhousie, New Brunswick. (They grew up there and knew each other at the time although they didn’t actually play together till a few years ago). Dalhousie has one real concert hall (495 seats) which is at an elementary school, “the L.E.R.”. Denis’ father is part of the organization board that deals with the concert hall shows and prep so because of this they got the authorization to record there.

The L.E.R concert hall is not only great for its acoustics but it has an Imperial Grand Bösendorfer which has extra keys at the bass end of the keyboard. Bösendorfer pianos are noted for their dark, full-bodied sound compared with other top models. Naturally, Denis, the pianist, was ecstatic about this! And you can definitely hear the different sounding pianos in the recording, there’s no mistaking the concert hall grand!! In Dalhousie, Dyalek invited fantastic musician friends from the east coast to record the other three tracks on the album: Pierre-Guy Blanchard on the Vibraphone and Sébastien Michaud on Bass and trumpet.

The title and the compositions on the album

The title itself can be easily misinterpreted, so let me explain.

The whole album revolves around music that goes somewhere, never knowing exactly where it’s going to go. It takes the listener for a ride. Sometimes an abrupt change happens for no apparent reason, most of the time the changes are gradual and the musicians make it ”fit”.

Another reason for the album title is the presence of polyrythms and polytonalties. In this case we can even speak of polymelodies. Polyrythms happen when there are many time signatures or rythms going on at once. Polytonalities is maybe a little more subtle, but there are plenty on Misinterpretations, for example on the title track there is almost a constant layering of different keys played together. The result is often perceived as dissonances, but it’s all part of the plan.

Next thing that stands out in this album is the use of odd meters. For example, it is not uncommon for Dyalek to play comfortably in 5, 7 or 13 beats per measure. It’s not important for the listener to know this because there is still the presence of a pulse throughout the music.

A big element of the album is of course improvisation. Every tune has some room left for improvising. Sometimes there are improvised sections which expand and almost become a new entity itself. If you like real music, listening to the album is like taking a ride that you definitely enjoy.