Regina’s instrumental soothsayers and all-around snappy dressers The Lazy MKs have recently dropped their latest full-length album, entitled Where We Bin.
Utilizing standard alt-country fare: lap steel, banjos, horns and stripped-down percussion, The Lazy MKs meander through home-spun psychedelia and classy rock, occasionally amping up to an agrarian stomp.
It would be, however, a huge disservice to write the band off as a mere post-country band.
The MKs are far too cerebral to fall into such trappings. And while it may not translate with lyrics, steel player Etienne Soulodre explains that there is actually a story behind the new album.
“The title Where We Bin is meant both literally and figuratively,” explains Soulodre. “Literally we have been in our jam spot in the basement of Chris’ bookstore writing this record. The packaging of the record is made to look like the bookstore on the outside. When you open the case you see the downstairs jam spot, which we partially built out of lumber salvaged form a 100-year-old barn.
“Figuratively the album is a document of where we have been musically as a band and as individual players. It continues our attempt to tell stories through songs without lyrics. Each song has a little story with it in the liner notes and on the Bandcamp site.”
The first song of the album, “Sled Dogs”, ironically opens up the instrumental album with A cappella grunts, setting the tone for a steel-driven song that could be almost anthemic. The album continues on with the right amount of musical flourishes to keep listeners engaged, all the while still keeping a unified identity, says Soulodre.
“I would have thought that steel guitar driven instrumental, roots, post-rock would have been a hard sell,” says Soulodre. “But we continually seem to strike a chord with audiences.”
With Where We Bin now receiving love from both audiences and reviewers, The Lazy MKs are now stretching their boundaries beyond just the music – the band are gearing for a series of out-of-province shows in addition to some good old fashioned media wooing.
“We began pushing the record to radio in September,” says Soulodre. “We decided to offer the record free for a little while as part of this promotion. Hopefully, this will translate to people wanting to buy a physical copy.
“This record has some great guest players on it including the horns from Pile O’ Bones Brass band, Belle Plain, Anna Rose and Steve Jeske of The Lonesome Weekends,” he continues. “Most of these folks will be joining us for a couple of shows in Calgary on September 23 and 24.”