Gypsophilia may be based in Halifax, but its instruments are like palimpsests of another time and place: The guitars would be right at home among the best of France's joueurs de manouche, the horns blaring their klezmer tunes in an Ashkenazy home, while the strings sing like plaintive Roma songs.
So what do you do to follow up an award-winning, chart-topping album? When you're Gypsophilia, you just keep on plugging away. After the release of the 2009 album Sa-ba-da-OW!, Gypsophilia spent countless hours, days and months on tour, promoting the music, and reached new audiences with its distinctive sound. The cohesion that is present in Gypsophilia's playing---due to years of touring together---is instinctive. The songs play like conversations and choruses, with everyone speaking the same language.
The result of those conversations is the new album Constellation.
It's produced by Howard Bilerman, who has previously worked with a who's-who of Canadian indie darlings, such as Arcade Fire, Stars, Basia Bulat and Bell Orchestre. It seems that Bilerman knows how to speak Gypsophilia's musical shorthand and we---the Gypsophilia-loving public---are better for it. The production value Bilerman brings to the group is one of great intimacy, with strings at the forefront when needed, while horns declare their intentions when it is their turn to say what they feel. The album plays like a beautiful opera sung across musical genres, times and places.
After a recent, brief tour of Ontario and Quebec, the band has come home to celebrate the release of its new album. They will be playing two shows, including a masquerade ball at the Seahorse on Friday, and a release party at The Carleton on the November 1. We---the Gypsophilia-loving public ---are ever grateful. --