Forged in Friendship, The Rural Alberta Advantage Continue to Make Inspiring Music
Photo credit: Jess Baumung
Wintertime in northern Alberta is a brutal, unforgiving season. Temperatures regularly drop below zero and the windchill adds a biting, merciless element of cold. The sun only peaks out for a handful of hours a day, and white, blinding snowfall is omnipresent.
These are not exactly the conditions for inspirational epiphanies (other than, “I need to move south, ASAP,”) but Nils Edenloff—vocalist, guitarist and chief songwriter for indie rock mainstays The Rural Alberta Advantage—experienced a touching moment of grace during one such winter back in his hometown of Fort McMurray, located in the hinterlands of Alberta, Canada.
“I was living in Toronto and went home for Christmas,” said Edenloff. “And my sister was asking how my bandmates, Paul [Banwatt] and Amy [Cole], were doing. As I was describing the dynamic of our band, I realized I was describing, in parallel, my own relationship with my siblings. I kind of figured out right then, that, yeah, this band is my family, too. Paul and Amy were the stand-in for the family I didn’t have in Toronto. It was this beautiful moment where I realized how special my relationship is with those two.”
That unique bond is what drove Edenloff to reconnect with Cole, after a two-year period from 2016 – 2018 in which the band did not feature its original lineup. Now in its second act of sorts, the band (Edenloff sings and plays guitar, Banwatt drums and Cole plays keys) is touring and making music just as vibrant and urgent as they sounded some 20 years ago, when they first formed. A band forged among unshakeable friendships, The Rural Alberta Advantage will bring their distinct display of kinship to the Rickshaw Stop on February 5.
The Rural Alberta Advantage (the name was coined by Edenloff’s brother as a rejoinder to an oil industry marketing campaign) originally came into prominence with the release of their stunning, dynamic debut album, “Hometowns,” a collection of beautifully haggard and windswept folk ballads. The release was marked by a seamless interplay of austere acoustic elements and synth-inflected pop pieces, highlighted by Edenloff’s wounded, desperate warble.
Those elements can be found in the band’s latest single, “The Hunt in Edson,” a woozy, somnolent slice of Americana rock. Reflective of Edenloff’s unique and empathetic approach to songwriting, the track is a poignant look at unexpected second chances, with an unusual origin story.
The germ of the song began when Edenloff’s cat, Edson, interrupted a lazy morning in bed by dropping off his prize catch—a dazed, stunned mouse. After being dropped off roughly onto the blankets, the mouse sprung to his feet, seemingly shocked to still be alive. Edenloff and his wife then deposited the wary mouse into their yard at the edge of the forest, providing the creature with a wholly bewildering extra lease on life.
“That incident really gave me this perspective on how wonderful the world can be in giving you these small yet magical little events,” said Edenloff. “In my mind, that song is written from almost three perspectives—mine, the mouse and Edson the cat. I love this idea of the mouse resigning himself to being eaten and then all of sudden fate kind of intervenes. It’s definitely an odd scenario to be inspired by, but my brain just works that way—and that’s really something that Paul and Amy understand and appreciate.”
Perhaps it’s the soft hum of keyboards the underscore most of the band’s sonic templates, of Edenloff’s knack for finding beauty in battered humans and battered places, but there has always been a sense of warmth to the songs of The Rural Alberta Advantage, belying the group’s frigid origins. “The Hunt in Edson” continues in that tradition, imbuing humanity and pathos into quiet, fleeting moments that many might overlook. It takes a special breed of band to make one feel deep, lasting emotions for a wayward mouse.
“When we set him free in our yard, I started asking myself, ‘well, what now?’” said Edenloff. “I can only project what will happen next with this mouse. But I like the idea of him having this new chapter in life.”
While Edenloff and the band project a preternatural sense of forgiveness, they’re also fully capable of morphing into a defiant batch of crusaders. The flip side of “The Hunt in Edson” is the band’s other new single, “Falling Apart.” A rousing call-to-arms, the song is not political in nature, but serves as a rallying cry for all those dipping into apathy or a malaise. Both of the lead singles are set to be part of an upcoming album, the details of which are still forming.
“That song [“Falling Apart”] gestated for years, but it basically addresses the idea that we’re getting older and, yeah, we might be falling apart from a technical standpoint,” said Edenloff. “But we’ve always been a ramshackle band. We know who we are, and we aren’t going anywhere at this point.”
For a band that has made a point of sticking with each other for the most part of the past 20 years, that statement is not just mere bluster. It’s comforting to know that the familial, familiar story of The Rural Alberta Advantage will continue.
Show Details:
The Rural Alberta Advantage with Jordan Burchel
Where: The Rickshaw Stop
When: 8 p.m., Thursday, February 5
Tickets: $32.90, available here.