Doldrums is Airik Woodhead and if it wasn't for another band's unfortunate border troubles he wouldn't be at the Banff Centre.
Back when the initial line-up of the Indie Band program was announced a Tennesse group by the name of Fly Golden Eagle was on the list. But on the day things were supposed to get started the group was turned away at the border for some previous naughty behaviour by one of the bandmates. In a frenzy, the Banff Centre went down their short-list to find a replacement and based on a strong endorsement from Owen Pallett Doldrums made the cut. Great suggestion Owen!
R3 fans, may be familiar with Airik's previous project, the now defunct, Spiral Beach. After the band's break up Eric moved from Toronto to Montreal and started to make music of a completely different sort. It's a mixture of samples ripped from VHS tapes, solid electronic beats, and angular singing reminiscent of Thom Yorke (a comparison that I'm sure Airik will be getting a lot in the future). Everything I have heard so far has made me very excited to see what he'll do next. He's only been Doldrums for a little while now but once the major music blogging media gets a hold of this stuff I expect they'll eat it up.
Here's one of his tunes, 'I'm Sick Up Here In My Satellite':
If you want more Doldrums (and I know I do) here's a video that was shot last week on a gondola here in Banff.
