At the heart of lovable local trio the Rural Alberta Advantage — or at least the heart of their songs — there’s a fundamental belief in grassroots culture. Literally grass and roots: singer-guitarist Nils Edenloff writes yearning, plaintive tunes that reflect (through goggles smeared with Hogtown fog) on his formative years in farm country. He’s a Toronto transplant whose sharply detailed reminiscences about oil rigs and heartbreak cast his prairie hometown in the same bittersweet glow as The Weakerthans lyricist John K. Samson’s portraits of Winnipeg.
So there’s something quite poetic in the fact that the biggest boost The RAA have received so far has come from a decidedly grassroots source. Though the band have been quietly solidifying both their lineup (they’re now a tight-knit three-piece; Amy Cole and Woodhands drummer Paul Banwatt fill the non-Edenloff spots) and their songs for about two and a half years now, their name hasn’t meant much to folks outside the GTA till recently.
But thanks to a chance word-of-mouth message sent by a fan and Metacritic forum poster to the editor of newly influential subscription-based online music retailer eMusic.com, The Rural Alberta Advantage were selected as eMusic’s featured artist for November. The honour is significant — it means major international exposure to real music lovers who likely wouldn’t’ve had a clue about the relative advantages boasted by rural Alberta. Previous eMusic Selects act High Places were catapulted to instant indie stardom after they were chosen as the inaugural group for the unsigned-band initiative. For The RAA, this opportunity means that their debut LP, Hometowns, will be exclusively featured for digital download on the eMusic site.
“We’ve gotten a lot of people contacting us,” Edenloff effuses. “Maybe’s it’s also because what we’re doing is suited to a more grassroots feel, and that works with the way it’s been growing [and the structure of the eMusic program]. I think that, when people feel like they’ve found out about something on their own, it’s more personal to them. They hold it a bit closer. So this development’s really been working out for us — people keep asking, ‘Why are these guys unsigned?’”
Brooklyn duo High Places — whose curious fiddly soundscapes are definitely less accessible than the RAA’s sepia-toned ballads — landed a decent deal with Chicago’s Thrill Jockey after their eMusic experience. So far, Edenloff and his bandmates still aren’t sure what comes next — or at least after their gig opening for Ohbijou at Lee’s Palace Thursday, Nov. 27.
“We’re a little aloof, a little lazy and maybe, um, too blasé about how to approach band stuff,” Edenloff laughs ruefully. “It seems like so many good things have happened to us by chance that we just don’t go out looking for them. But at practice last week, we were kind of like, ‘OK, what are we supposed to do now?’ We’re trying to figure out how to take advantage of this opportunity but are really just feeling our way in the dark.
Though Edenloff says the RAA website has been inundated with a “new diversity” of orders from the far-off reaches of Germany, Austria and Australia, they’re not planning any European or Antipodean tours just yet. For now, he and his bandmates — who initially believed Pop Montreal would be the potential acme of the Rural Alberta Advantage career trajectory — are just trying to work out how they can take enough time off their day jobs to play a couple shows in New York City.
In the meantime, Edenloff has a different challenge. His struggle to come to terms with his new home (and recent heartbreak) has provided the Rural Alberta Advantage’s songs with necessary emotional substance. But this January, the former farm boy celebrates his seventh year in Toronto. Even he wonders how long he can keep mining (ha!) his rural past for material that rings true.
“It’s something I’ve thought about. I definitely see Toronto as my home now — and I kind of always knew it was where I needed to be. I know there’s only so long you can be like, ‘I’m not from here.’ At the same time, I spent 25 years growing up in Alberta, so there are a lot of memories, both good and bad, to sift through. And I do think there will always be some sort of lingering influence from there in my songs.”