Blue Hawaii on the road somewhere much warmer than Montreal

When you think of the city of Montreal you would hardly think of words like tropical, sunny or summery, and the only water you could imagine would probably be being skated on. So it’s not surprising that well-established Montreal acts like Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade and the Stills have a hint of darkness or melancholy in their music. Breaking away from this northern trend are Blue Hawaii, a two-piece electo-pop outfit, at times both tropical and dreamy, whose sound is sunny and warm enough to brighten even the Quebec winter.

Listen to Blue Gowns while you read.

Everything about Blue Hawaii, starting with the name itself, shouts summer and warmth. Their wonderful debut album, both timely and aptly titled Blooming Summer, is full of track titles such as Belize, Lilac and Castle of Clouds. The music itself, layered keyboard, synth and drums and beautiful female vocals alternating between dream-like distortion and direct all come together to sound like a sublime daydream you’d never want to wake up from.

Blue Hawaii consists of Raphie and Alex Cowan. Although the duo’s collaboration has not yet lasted a year, both members have been very active in the Montreal music scene, ‘Raph’ as a member of fellow Arbutus Records band Braids and Alex running a loft space/venue called Lab Synthèse. When the two met, Alex recalls, they “started improvising almost immediately” and it then took a few months before they officially became a band.

When asked about their summery sound, the band says their influence, not surprisingly, comes from well outside the Canadian borders. “Raph and I did not spend this winter in the cold,” Alex says, “We went through Central America by a combination of motorbike, pickup and ship. While our friends were hiking through two feet of snow, wet toes and cold windows, we were snorkeling in Belize, drinking rum in San Salvador or lying shirtless on old ruins in Guatemala.” It should be safe to say that this Motorcycle Diaries-type journey was the perfect winter escape as well as inspiration for their record.

When it comes to production, the two work together with Alex handling the instrumental side, and Raph focusing on lyrics and vocals, and teaming up for the finishing touches. “We ponder together about what we want for an overall feeling,” they say, “and tear apart every song two or three times until we end up with what we have. It’s very helpful that we have a computer.” The production is very layered, whether it’s reverbed vocals or keyboards or synths and this helps to create the dream-like feel of tracks like Belize, where Raph’s voice functions almost as additional instrument.

That being said, the lyrics are not to be overlooked and do much more than just add to the atmosphere. Songs like Dream Electrixra maintain the overall upbeat mood of the album with lines like “we’re going to have the best days of our life”, but also reflect the uncertainty and pain of youth as Raph sings, “You seem to be the kind of friend that I long for…I’ve never wanted anyone this bad before”.  On Blue Gowns, the lyrics focus on love and regret as Raph asks herself, “how stupid can I get?” and “how stupid can you get?” when presumably considering a former boyfriend.

In short, Blooming Summer is upbeat without being unrealistic or un-believable. It conveys nearly perfectly the ups and downs of youth and both how painful and wonderful the journey can be all at once. At times hazy, distorted and dream-like, at times vivid and direct.

Despite having only just released their first album, the band say they are planning on writing another record later this summer with a different approach and feel: “We are going for a more live approach in the writing/recording process,” Alex says, “I am very intrigued by the ability to make music wherever you are, depending more on the space you are in and less on the tools you have at your disposal.” Whatever the approach, Blue Hawaii have certainly created a wonderful sound and we only expect more of the same.

Download Blooming Summer here

Blue Hawaii on myspace

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