The Barr Brothers

Recorded in their makeshift studio in an old boiler room at the foot of Mount Royal, the ten song album debut album was written over the course of the brother's time in a city full of strangers, lovers, old ghosts and new friends. Along with Sarah and Andres, the record also features Miles Perkin (Lhasa DeSela), Elizabeth Powell (Land of Talk), Nathan Moore, Jocie Adams (The Low Anthem), Elvis Perkins and Emma Baxter. It reads like a dusty journal of a traveler at the crossroads of good and evil. Hushed Americana lonesome and future-primitive delta blues clear the path for West African polyrhythms and classical motifs. Its all tied together by the commitment to the sources of the styles and their inherent connections to each other.

The Barr Brothers au Printemps de Bourges - La Presse

La salle en surchauffe assiste à un grand moment de complicité entre les deux frères, sans pour autant que soient effacés les autres membres du groupe; au contraire, l'osmose entre les musiciens est parfaite. Sarah, Andrés, Andrew et Brad partagent leur plaisir de la musique avec les spectateurs, transmettent une émotion non dissimulée et leur jeu s'en ressent: guitare et harpe semblent pleurer sur Kisses from Chelsea.

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The Barr Brothers - Liberation Review

Ce que confirme, par-delà l’évidente félicité scénique émanant de leur complicité - avec un xylophone et une roue de vélo qui complètent la panoplie ! - le premier album de The Barr Brothers, sorti en septembre aux Etats-Unis (où ils ont déjà gagner des points au Late Show with David Letterman) et au Canada. De simples prolégomènes, sans nul doute.

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Oklahoma Gazette SXSW Live Review

It was a powerful, moving piece about death that ended with a surprising twist: the lead singer pulled out a lighter and burned the threads that were making the noise, ending the song with two concluding notes. It was a perfect end to an absolutely incredible set: the band received a rightfully-earned standing ovation.

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Globe and Mail Live Review

On the last song of the main set, the gentlemanly singer-guitarist Brad Barr faced the harpist Sarah Page. The two of them engaged in a gentle call-and-response, plucking their strings and feeling each other out harmonically. It was a dance of sorts, or perhaps a musical mating ritual. It wasn’t so sexual, but a fellow from the crowd bellowed for the pair to “get a room” anyway.

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Interview with The Ottawa Express

Natives of Providence, Rhode Island, the brothers Barr (Brad and Andrew) unsurprisingly form the spine of the latest musical sensation to come out of Montreal, The Barr Brothers, who appeared on an early January episode of Late Night With David Letterman after their critically acclaimed self-titled debut dropped in October 2011.The story of how these brothers ended up in Montreal, though, is an intriguing tale of fate, fire, a dash of love interest and a mysterious harpist.

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Interview with Postcity.com

Hailing from Montrea (via the U.S.), The Barr Brothers released their long-awaited debut album late last year and have been touring and gaining notoriety as of late, including an appearance on Late Show With David Letterman in January. Best known for their energetic and improvisational live shows, the band — Brad and Andrew Barr along with Sarah Page and Andres Vial — checks into Queen West's The Great Hall tonight in support of their self-titled debut album out now on Secret City Records.

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Interview with The Ottawa Citizen

If only Ray and Dave Davies or Noel and Liam Gallagher had been given boxing gloves as kids.

The list of rock ’n’ roll siblings who get along is not impressive, but Brad Barr and his brother Andrew appear to be exceptions. Where their predecessors might find separate continents too close, Brad actually followed when Andrew moved from Boston to Montreal. Not long after that, they formed the Barr Brothers, a group that recently released its self-titled debut.

The jury will forever be out on whether any of it would have happened without the gloves.

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Interview with The Ottawa Sun

By now, The Barr Brothers’ Brad is so used to telling the story, he just assumes that everyone’s already heard it several times.

In 2004, he and his brother Andrew were in a band in Boston called The Slip.

They were booked to play the Montreal club called The Swimming, but a couple hours before curtain, the club caught fire. Huddled together in front of the burning building on rue St-Laurent, Andrew, the percussionist in the band, noticed a waitress shivering in the cold. He offered her his sweater.

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Editor's pick - The Washington Post

The Barr Brothers' eponymous debut album is a terrific addition to this genre. Singer-songwriter-guitarist Brad Barr and drummer Andrew Barr were once two-thirds of indie-rock band the Slip, but they have radically revamped their sound for this project. Joined by harpist/dulcimerist Sarah Page and pump organist Andres Vial, they have created an imaginary past where village musicians play acoustic instruments in the quiet of a parlor but sing with the knowing irony of a modern college classroom.

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Best of the year - Exclaim!

More simply, though, few other Canadian releases in recent memory have so deftly bridged the gap between guitar/drums blues stomps with fragile acoustic balladry without even pausing for breath. To have a first-time listener eagerly anticipating such surprises with each track should probably be the goal of any artist, and that is at the very least what the Barr Brothers accomplished on this stunning debut.

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