photos by Leia Jospe

Destroyer's Dan Bejar (also of the New Pornographers and Swan Lake) is the more high-profile member of Vancouver's Hello, Blue Roses, but the duo's work actually hinges on the pristine crooning of Sydney Vermont. [Time Out]

Hello, Blue Roses played their first NYC show (probably their first U.S. show even) at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn last night (Feb 16, 2008). It was also their first live performance together in 18 months. For more on HBR, see also....

• Hello, Blue Roses = Dan Bejar & Sydney Vermont (MP3)
• an interview with Hello, Blue Roses (Dan Bejar & Sydney Vermont)
• Hello, Blue Roses playing Brooklyn, Destroyer playing SXSW
• New Porn on AOL, Dan Bejar in Brooklyn, tour dates

I couldn't make it, but 'klk' said, "this show was ......interesting". More of Leia's photos, and a video by Sound Bites, below...

Continue reading "Hello Blue Roses @ Glasslands, Brooklyn, NYC - pics & video"

DOWNLOAD: New Pornographers w/ Neko Case on AOL (MP3)

Dan Bejar & Sydney Vermont are Hello Blue Roses (Catbird Art)

Don't forget Dan will be here with Hello, Blue Roses on Saturday. Check out The New Pornographer's 'Myriad Harbour' video if you haven't already, and the recent New Porn AOL MP3 (above) and video (below) podcast....

Continue reading "New Porn on AOL, Dan Bejar in Brooklyn, tour dates"

"We are going to play a few shows in February-March, here, and a couple in New York." [Sydney Vermont]

Hello, Blue Roses will play Glasslands in Brooklyn on Saturday February 16th with their Locust Music labelmates Begushkin.

by BrooklynVegan Mike

DOWNLOAD: Hello, Blue Roses - Shadow Falls (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hello, Blue Roses - Sunny Skies (MP3)

The love child of two multi-talented, multi-tasking eclectics, Hello, Blue Roses pairs visual artist/vocalist/flautist Sydney Vermont with her scraggly-haired sweetheart, artsy singer/songwriter Dan Bejar (Destroyer, New Pornographers, Swan Lake), to make up this charming duo. Their intimacy beget a distinctive and engrossing debut album, complete with the awww-inspiring title, The Portrait Is Finished And I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty... due out Jan. 22 via the Locust label. [SPIN]

Mike: Hello
Dan: Hi Michael
Sydney: Nice to meet you!

Mike: How/When was the decision made between you guys to make a proper album? I read that your first performance as a duo was in 2001.

Sydney: 2001...oh that was an impromptu performance at our goodbye Montreal "Snowball". Our friend Gordon B Isnor had turned everyone on to Judee Sill that summer when he found a record of hers at a garage sale. Him and Goody played an evening of her songs with Shary Boyle performing Sharyoke in Halifax, and their beautiful poster was hanging on our Montreal walls. So I pretty much copied them by singing a Judee Sill song and a Kate Bush number with Dan on guitar and our friend Terry on cardboard box drums. It lasted thee minutes or so. I guess that was our first performance.

We didn't think about an album until 2006. We had started to play just the two of us when my other band, Bonaparte, went on hiatus. I guess we had about five songs at one point and our friends asked us to play a Valentine's Day show. So we had to write a few more. By the time we got to Spain, we had eleven or twelve songs and just decided we would record them there and see what happened. Those turned out to be demos, as maybe Dan's vision for arrangement outgrew our equipment and engineering capabilities. So then to JC/DC studios in Vancouver in the Spring.

Was there ever an idea or a concept that you guys wanted to approach musically or did the sound just come about organically? There is a weightlessness to the album, but not in a contemporary sense.

Continue reading "an interview with Hello, Blue Roses (Dan Bejar & Sydney Vermont)"

DOWNLOAD: Ruby Isle - Shadow Falls (Hello, Blue Roses) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hello, Blue Roses - Shadow Falls (MP3)

Last Friday, Ruby Isle was in the middle of recording our new record and were looking for some inspiration so we decided to take whatever track was number one on elbo.ws and cover it. It turned out it was a song by Hello, Blue Roses called Shadow Falls. Hello, Blue Roses has that guy Dan Bejar in it from Destroyer and The New Pornographers. This is conincdental because Ryan and I had a friend named Rob that had a label called Catsup Plate that put out a Destroyer record. Then our friend Phil Waldorf put out another Destroyer record on Misra. Then things got all out of control and they signed to Merge and became rock stars.

On to the song… It was a pretty easy song to cover because it is very simple. Basically a chorus with some verselike parts that go in and out. Our take on it is VERY different, I hope we don’t offend HBR because we mean no harm. It was just supposed to be a fun send up of a current indie fave. Keep in mind we recorded and mixed it in about 5 hours. So here it is: Ruby Isle - Shadow Falls (Hello, Blue Roses), ENJOY!!! [Kindercore]

This seemed like as good a way as any to finally point out that Dan Geller from I am The World Trade Center is in a new band, and that as far as I know, Amy Dykes is doing okay.

DOWNLOAD: Hello, Blue Roses - Shadow Falls (MP3)

The romantically entwined duo of Dan Bejar (Destoyer, Swan Lake, New Pornographers) and Sydney Vermont (visual artist, Bonaparte vocalist, former Toronto Children’s Choir kid singer) performing under the moniker Hello, Blue Roses have announced the release of their first album. The 13-track debut will be released by Chicago-based label Locust Music. The self-titled disc draws on everything from an unabashed love of 80’s AOR ala Prefab Sprout and Kate Bush to prime Aquarian-age femme folk of the 60’s and 70’s to create an infectious, readymade classic.

Despite plenty of chances, I somehow didn't realize Dan was doing this until now. Definitely a nice surprise.

Dan was just in NYC for a couple of shows with the New Pornographers. More of the Hello, Blue Roses press release, below....

Continue reading "Hello, Blue Roses = Dan Bejar & Sydney Vermont (MP3)"