Band: We Are the City

CD Title: “In a Quiet World”

Label: Independent Release

Release Date: 2009

We are the City is a trio from Kelowna, BC Canada which these days is quite a hot bed for musical talent. This is the second proggy band from those parts I’ve discovered and its great stuff. The band’s first release is entitled In a Quiet World and is a disc that hearkens back to prog’s glory days all the while looking straight ahead. In fact these guys don’t know what it means to look back. We are the City is made up of Cayne McKenzie (vocals, keyboards), David Menzel (guitar) and Andrew Huculiak (drums).

There are eleven songs on In a Quiet World and all of them are about three-to-four minutes in length but it’s what these guys do with those precious minutes that’s pretty amazing. Each song is jam packed with little musical accents, tempo changes, dynamic arrangements, starts and stops, dense musical crescendos and soft ambient contemplative breaks. Quite honestly you just never know what’s around the next musical corner. There are echoes of Radiohead, Coldplay, Mew, Keane, Muse and a host of others. But none of that really matters since We are the City craft their own musical direction. Songs slide effortlessly from pounding drums, to driving musical stabs to anthemic choruses to staccato motifs. This is a trio on a musical mission to bend some rules and stuff as much as they can into their music. Most of the music is upbeat although there are moments of melancholy too. And what’s amazing to me is that they do all of this and still craft a very catchy melody at the same time. There are so many musical highlights here; I couldn’t begin to pick a favorite track.

It’s pretty exciting to see so much new music that displays such an affinity for the progressive rock genre. We are the City are a real treasure and if you’re a fan of any of the bands mentioned or other art-rock outfits like Bend Sinister or Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears then you’ll really like this band. In a Quiet World hits all the right notes and lots of them! I highly recommend We are the City.