Both acclaimed musicians in their own right, married couple Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet will be performing with their new band Whitehorse at The Hideout on Feb. 3.
The husband and wife team released their first disc as Whitehorse last year, and their latest project, The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss, was released this past August.
McClelland and Doucet, who live in Hamilton, Ontario and New York City, are both extremely talented musicians individually. They had frequently supported each other over the years via each other’s projects, and they are extraordinary together onstage.
Merging their talents in a single creative force – Whitehorse — proved a natural ‘next step’.
Recording their first Whitehorse project stretched over a couple of years, as they would find bits of time to lay down the tracks while touring. So much material was produced for the debut disc, there was plenty for The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss.
The disc continues to build on the sound they’ve come to be known for – a smoldering mix of alt-pop/blues/roots and rock from the sauntering swagger of opening cut Achilles’ Desire to the lighter, catchy touch of Devil’s Got A Gun and the gentle Mismatched Eyes (Boat Song).
As mentioned earlier, both McClelland and Doucet are exceptional artists. McClelland’s last solo disc Victoria Day was released in the spring of 2009.
McClelland recalls singing and making up songs for hours on end as a child, but it was a solitary thing for her. But her flourishing talents would ultimately surface and in their own magical way demand attention.
For his part, Doucet has one of those sleek, compelling voices that melds perfectly with his chosen genre of music. His latest disc was Steel City Trawler.
Prior to that, Blood’s Too Rich featured his band The White Falcon.
There is no question Doucet is a master of stories, and it’s obvious he’s not just repeating them. He’s also a master on the guitar, an instrument he got serious about when he was about 13.
As his own talents took shape, others were quick to notice and tap into the man’s artistic finesse, including Sarah McLachlan (who he recorded and played with for several years) and Chantal Kreviazuk.
Blood’s Too Rich marked the seventh disc from Doucet. Other releases include 2005’s Broken (and other rogue states), The Embattled Hearts (2003), Aloha Manitoba (2001) and Tilt O’Whirl (1999).
-Weber
