Boy Every Page You Turn. Release Date : October 26, 2004. Label: Maple Music/Universal. Rating: Andy doesn't dig rating stuff. All right, I admit I was hasty with this one. I didn't want to be, but I couldnt help it. I wanted desperately for it to blow me out of the water instantly, to completely alter my reality, to just do things to me that no music ever has before. But it didnt. At least not at first. The main man behind all this, Stephen Noel Kozmeniuk, is someone I've been familiar with for a few years now. I met him by chance over New Music West 2002 through mutual friends, and became well-acquainted with his quirky sounds there, as well as his versatility, seeing him doing various things over the weekend. Then there was his earlier self-titled release, an astounding, brilliant piece of work packed with strings and noises that's impressive enough in its own right - and even more so when you consider the 20-year-old had recorded them for the most part in a Whitehorse bedroom. Over the summer of 2004, I landed in Toronto for a few days, and had a chance to drop by the studio where Kozmeniuk was busy mixing Every Page You Turn. At the time, I'd had no clue what he'd been up to, though he had told me his music was different than before. I thought he'd have strayed further into the depths of weird, but here I was walking into this room to hear this unfinished, but completely balls-out guitar rock. Different indeed. I was shocked at the time, as it was so far towards the other end of the spectrum from what I was used to, and it sounded like it had so much potential... I was listening to snippets of rough mixes - who knew what could develop from here! It was hardly enough to know exactly what he had up his sleeve though, so I, along with everyone else, awaited the new album and all the hypiddy-hype-hype that came along with it. The label did a good job of preparing the country for something enormous, and it hit its release date along with mountains of TV and radio press, interviews and reviews. For better or for worse, we've got rock stars on our hands. And one day, I opened up an envelope, and there it was, Every Page You Turn waiting for me to give my take. I plopped it in my stereo and waited for the full course of that taste I'd been given. Instead, on first brief listen, I thought what I heard was a myriad of blatant ripoffs and an easy way to the top in a mish mash of 'retro' and old-school styled guitar bands. I thought this was a step backwards, into regular music, instead of a push forward into new territory. So this is where I was hasty. When what I was expecting to happen didn't, I was thoroughly disappointed and moved on immediately to another disc, upset and afraid to form an opinion about it because I know what a talent and what a hard worker Kozmeniuk is, I respect him enough to assume that there was no way he intended to cheap out and write a schlocky, effortless album simply in the interest of fame, and I didn't want to end up saying something that would be an insult. Of course, worrying about offending someone is one of the worst mistakes a critic of anything can make, because then you just aren't being honest and are simply pandering... and it was by no means a bad-sounding record on my first trot through it. Quite the contrary, I tapped my toes immediately. But it didn't do to me all the things I was hoping it would. This is why I declined comment on it initially - I was hoping I could just sort of forget it had ever happened. But then one day, some time later, I did something. I put that CD in my stereo again. I dont know why I did on that day, but I did. And suddenly, I saw it all. Now here's the thing - it's not changing my life and altering my reality. What it is doing is making me dance my fucking face off. It's a rock and roll record. It doesnt have that outright artiness of Kozmeniuk's previous works, which is the precise thing that was making people scared to launch the self-titled disc into the mainstream consciousness, even though the underground critics, and even some of the more outspoken mainstream media was eating it alive and asking for seconds. Right now this band feels like a great combo. It feels like all the members of the band are on the same page , whereas before, seeing Boy live brought out this ever-changing pile of hired hands that never really looked like they completely fit. The addition of Rolla Olak, previously of Victoria band Grace Nocturnal, which is a band I still miss like I have never missed a band before, and probably never will again, is heavily felt. His characteristic guitar style leaps all over this record. You can always tell when he's doing his thing on a riff. It's one of the most striking and pinpointable changes to the music. Where once I did not listen deep, I now hear the subtleties of the compositions. Where I once looked at Kozmeniuk's voice as sounding bored and unvaried, I now view it as oozing drawly rock-cool and suiting the sound. It's more of a lazy spiral up and down than any sort of forceful yelling that one might expect from this kind of thing - you look for singers who often can't sing very well, tossing out drivelly music and just freaking out all over the place. Not so here - Kozmeniuk and his band have actual voices. The music does the leg work, the voice is more of an accessory. There's more voices through the background blending in, harmonizing loosely. Clap your hands, shine the bright lights, throw some confetti. Buy the band a round, they're here to rock your head clear off. "People Come On" starts the disc strongly. The guys come out roaring. The first single, "Same Old Song", has a great sharp guitar riff. Listen closely in the background and you hear ooh's and baba's and woo's, random comments, strings occasionally (something that was done with such vigour before), snaps, claps, jingles, purrs, stomps, all kinds of little cool things. And you can't hear any of this on a cursory listen, on a quiet listen, on a skim through. It needs time to sink into your head. You know how if you stare at a clear metropolitan night sky, with our eyes so used to city lights, it's hard to see the stars? Maybe the brightest ones shine through, but then the more you stare,the more your eyes become accustomed to the dim sheen, and slowly, more stars begin to appear. And more. And more. And more. Until the entire sky is more pure white than deep black, and every piece of it sparkles beautifully in its little corner of the universe. Each fits and plays off the other, and you realize how in-bloody-credible it all actually is. All this, right in front of you... and sometimes you just don't notice it. But it's always there, and it doesn't go away. That amazing part of the universe is always right there whenever you want to take the time to look at it. "Every Page You Turn" sounds an awful lot like a The Soundtrack Of Our Lives song. "You Gave It All" carries a sexy rumble. Go drums go. Triumphant with the strings that come in near the end. "A Line To Stand Behind" slows it down... it sounds like a cuddling song. Until it explodes at the end again. This album is all about endings. Maurie Kaufmann's drums are great thumping beasts. "The New Number Two" slows us into a very Air-like instrumental. This is one to pour yourself a nice glass of absinthe to. The melody that begins as a barely-audible background accent slowly leaks to become the main melody through the piece. We've already run a ridiculous gamut, yet nothing seems out of place, and we're only halfway through the album. After all, the rock life is all about going hard, then falling into a blissful abyss, then going hard again. They come straight back with "Up In This Town", and then put us into a plunky country-ish ballad on "Black Cat". Get on your fricking horse and ride. It seems a little contrived/ still you heard it from the bird who could not fly (Black Cat). "Diamonds" is interesting - beginning with a saucy bluesy acoustic bit and then picking up, but not going overboard. But then they start kicking in a bunch of woo's and tinkling jivey piano bits and flagrantly wanky guitars, and oh no, look at that I've totally lost control again and I'm dancing around the room like a maniac. I'm sure the people in the hotel across the street from me are absolutely loving this. The songs always start so innocent and then just get hot and sexy without a moment's notice. Ooh I'm blushing. Rock's supposed to make you want to tear your clothes off, right? Ending off, "Stars" drifts us out to space... Gorgeous strings. And still sexy. Boy makes strings sexy. How does that work??? It's like a James Bond movie. So is a record that may require a few listens to let it soak in more of a good thing or a bad thing? I guess that depends on the audience. If something doesn't hook you immediately, it has the potential to lose a ton of listeners - not everyone is as patient as I, and not every band will be so lucky to have an audience that will pick up a CD a month or more later and give it another shot. But I think this band currently has enough radio airplay that people get it quickly. I approached this album from such a different place - many people who are snapping this stuff up have never heard a note of Boy from the past. All they know is that this album slots perfectly into the missing piece of the modern rock and roll puzzle. More roll than rock. I needed some time to appreciate the departure from the completely absurd, into the much-more-mainstream. What it took me a moment to realize was that there is the same attention to detail and the same solid songwriting skills, instrumental talent, and general panache going on in this record - it's just far more subtle. These guys are tricking us into liking great unique music, by on the outside giving us a shredding pile of saucy rock, and underneath it, backing it up with the elements that vastly separate it from the hollow rock albums that are being churned out by a whole bunch of overnight wannabe stars of the Idol generation. The sneaky bastards. I'd love to see them pull a Radiohead - release this easier-to-digest album, get popular, make diehard fans, latch people on, and then turn around and throw a Kid A at us to knock us all flat. And then be hailed as the greatest most influential, most diverse and interesting band the world has ever seen. I can't say that there was or wasn't frustration on Kozmeniuk's part regarding his inability to break all the way through with his earlier music. He's created something here that keeps close by the current popular rock sound, ensuring him instant fame - but it still has such a flair, his signature is all over it, and allows him room to grow and throw in all sorts of aural goodies. So maybe he needed a fresh start, some mainstream cred, maybe this is honestly all he wants to do and there's no motive behind the change in sound other than that. Who knows really. But at the end of the day... excellent music was created. Do I want to see more experimental stuff? You bet, and hopefully the attention he gets from this release will give him the space and ability to do that. Will he do that ever again? Only he can answer that. While we wait for his next unpredictable move, let's just have a dance with Boy... Lyric of choice : As you sleep I sleep too/ under the stars in your living room from Stars. Song of choice : "Stars"... It's just gorgeous. I must be in a sappy mood lately - Here I go and pick the least rocking-out track on the disc, but I just can't help myself... -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere Boy website Published : January, 2005.