TIMBER TIMBRE - "INTERVIEW" VOLUME IV

Instrumental music has always played an integral role in the Timber Timbre discography, whether it be on the album-opening songs "So Much" and "Window Talk" from their first two albums, Cedar Shakes and Medicinals respectively, or the trilogy of segue instrumentals from 2011's Creep on Creepin' on, in which "Obelisk," "Swamp Magic" and "Souvenirs" provide the listener with a lantern to navigate the varied songwriting that populates the rest of the album. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the late Taylor Kirk would decide to record and release a series of purely instrumental free jazz sessions as part of the ongoing "Interview" series.

While "Interview" Volume 1 was recorded six months prior to the release of 2023's swansong LP Lovage, it wouldn't see release digitally and on cassette until Halloween 2024. The results of that fifteen-minute session in Mexico with Hilotrons' Mike Dubue and percussionist Adam Bradley Schreiber were compelling enough for  Kirk to book four days in early January 2025 at Dubue's Studio Cimetiere in Quebec to record what would become "Interview" Volumes II-VI. While the fifth and sixth volumes have yet to be released, due in no small part to the untimely passing of Kirk earlier this year, Volume IV serves as a sweet Valentine's Day gift to longtime fans, appropriately released on February 14th.

The band is expanded here beyond the trio that created Volume 1, including Foundling's Erin Lang on harp, Linsey Wellman on horns and flute, and Mark Kett on the Canadian-invented and Trent Reznor-approved "Apprehension Engine,"  a unique instrument that generates sounds perfectly suited for horror films.

Listening to Volumes II-IV as one continuous playlist can be a heady experience to say the least, but when taken individually as distinct installments, subtle thematic distinctions are revealed. Volume II, appropriately released on Halloween 2025, contains the most bone-chilling material of the sessions, whereas the downright frigid sounds of Volume III (featuring such songs as "A Polar Vortex" and "Miami Ice") landed in conjunction with the winter equinox. In contrast, Volume IV contains the most sublime and sweet sounds to emerge from the sessions, and is rounded out by the trio of "Memorabilia," "Ambrosia," and "Ephemera".

With hindsight being 20/20, it's somewhat comforting to know that the final chapter of  the Timber Timbre canon contains no words, only musical ideas. A literal and figurative interview from the great beyond with one of the most unique voices in Canadian music. The world will be poorer in the absence of new Timber Timbre material, but there is no measure to the gratitude for the final gift of the "Interview" sessions.

-Leks Maltby