AUGUST 2008 - IHEARTMUSIC - FEATURE

It's probably a little early to start thinking about next year's Polaris Prize when they still haven't handed out this year's, but I'm thinking that when people do start looking toward next year's award, Bruce Peninsula is going to be coming up in conversation an awful lot. In part, this is because of early glimpses of their debut full-length, A Mountain is a Mouth. While still far from complete, there's enough to the rough demos floating around that you get the sense the (eight-piece? nine-person? ten-piece? twelve-piece? I don't think they even know how many members the band officially has) collective could really be on to something special with their brand of creepy, Waits-ian folk-rock.

Of course, you can also get that same feeling just from listening to their 7". It may only be two songs in length, but the two songs are exceptionally good. There's definitely tension between frontman Neil Haverty's rough growl and the semi-joyful exuberance of the choir behind him, but as "Lift 'Em Up/Jack, Can I Ride?" shows, it's a welcome. It creates a sense of drama that few, if any, artists can match, and if the full-length follows through on this (and it certainly seems like it will), Bruce Peninsula may just be able to start making plans on how they'll divide up those Polaris winnings.