Sound Advice: CD Reviews - Four 'N' Giv'r (Psychle)

CD Review:
If you are a listener of CKCU 93.1 FM and attend live shows around the city of Ottawa you will be familiar with the members of Four 'N' Giv'r. Leading the band is singer/guitarist Bob Whitmore who will be familiar to radio listeners as the host of Bob Ate My Homework aired Mondays on CKCU. He also was a member of the band Holy Hell. Taking up bass duties is a familiar face from the punk scene in the city, Mark McIntyre, who is a third of the band Weapons of Mass Seduction (the band made Full Spectrum's 2005 list as Band of the Year). Playing drums is ex-member of Resin Scraper, John Westhaver.

Psychle is the 14th release of Ottawa record label Music for Cats and it fits nicely along side releases by the who's who of the Ottawa underground scene such as the aforementioned Weapons of Mass Seduction, or Casey Comeau and the Halfmilers, the Golden Famile, and The Glads (just to name a few).

Four 'N' Giv'r's first release is an 11 track 30 minute garage rock extravaganza. The album opens with an instrumental lasting just over a minute. It's apropos as the whole album puts the music ahead of the vocals. Bob's voice is pushed to the background almost as if it were unimportant or an unwanted addition. This gives the feeling that you're experiencing a live concert rather than a well produced studio album; and in fact that is just what you are listening to. The band takes pride in keeping a live feel to their recordings and I am whole-heartedly in agreement with them.

If you're the type who enjoys live concerts not necessarily for seeing the band itself but more to experience that raw energy they put forth, then Psychle may be your glass of beer. It may not be totally spontaneous, but it keeps the same feel.

Scott D. Brown