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<\/a>\u201cI started classical violin in Comox, and studied with a great teacher there, Mary Hill,\u201d says Freeman. \u201cBut then [I] really took to fiddle tunes from a local family who gave me my first lesson, then as a teen was obsessed with learning as much about the fiddle as I could. [I learned] classical to start, the Suzuki method, and then Canadian old-time, American old-time, and bluegrass tunes. I played a lot of Irish tunes and Scottish tunes.\u201d<\/p>\n
These fiddle tunes are what united the members of the Fretless\u2014who have a JUNO win for Instrumental Album of the Year under their belts\u2014but their other musical influences are what pushes them to experiment and cross over boundaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cBen [Plotnick, fiddle\/viola] is into Americana and folk\u2014he lives in Nashville and plays on a lot of Americana records. But if you get him going… he\u2019ll go on forever about Limp Bizkit and Blink-182,\u201d says Freeman. \u201cEric [Wright, cello] plays drums in a heavy metal band and we collaborate on an electronica band that performs live as well. Karrnnel [Sawitsky, fiddle\/viola] loves rock and roll, he loves divas. And Madeleine [Roger, touring vocalist] has a big range of Americana and UK songs as well as some classic rock, like Steely Dan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Really, The Fretless approaches music the way a rock band would, says Freeman.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause our instrumentation is so specific,\u201d he says, \u201cincorporating a Radiohead chord progression or something, it still has this flavour of fiddle music even though the progression is so outside of the genre.\u201d<\/p>\n
Writing Glasswing<\/i> was a methodical yet perspective-expanding experience for the band as they brought in a new creative force to their songwriting process.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the past five albums, we\u2019ve just been just the four of us sitting in a circle writing tunes, which has its own challenges. But we opened it up and brought in Madeleine Roger to help co-write some of these songs,\u201d says Freeman. \u201cJust being a part of her lyric-writing process, and really distilling and searching for the exact right lyric to pair with the tones we were making was an interesting and challenging process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Freeman says that Roger compared the band\u2019s writing process to hers.<\/p>\n
\u201c[W]e\u2019re quite meticulous and we play a single idea, like a four-second idea, for hours just to make sure it\u2019s right. She does the same thing with every word\u2014sit, stew, and brew on a single phrase for as long as you possibly can until it feels unchangeable.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Freeman, the seed of a fiddle tune is often a moment of flow.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce that flow is established,\u201d he says, \u201carranging that for the band to package the moment of flow the best\u2014that\u2019s the meticulous time spent.\u201d<\/p>\n