The Acorn Hits Road w/Calexico

Also doing dates with Shaky Hands and Ohbijou.

By Blurt Staff

Ottawa five-piece, The Acorn is preparing to make its way across the US for a tour with Calexico, kicking things off with long-time friends and collaborators, Toronto's Ohbijou, and Portland, Oregon's The Shaky Hands. The band has come off a successful summer festival season and fall UK tour with Akron/Family.

The Acorn were nominated for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize this year, the Canadian equivalent of the Mercury Prize. Now, after the recent release of the Tin Fist EP in the US, The Acorn also have a brand new video in the works for their song "Crooked Legs," off their critically-acclaimed album Glory Hope Mountain, available now on Paper Bag Records. The "Crooked Legs" video will once again be envisioned by Christopher Mills (Interpol, Modest Mouse, BSS). Mills is the same director who brought their beautiful lo-fi animation video for single "The Flood Pt.1" to life, which premiered on Pitchfork TV and aired on MTV2 Subterranean. The Acorn also plan to release Heron Act, a collection of hard-to-find live recordings, blog/radio session recordings and demos, in the US in the new year.

Here's what your friendly neighborhood BLURT had to say about the album:

In Ottawa, Rolf Klausener's achieved mythic status for merging tender merciful folkie prose with alterna-rocking anthems that usually find themselves tinged with ragga-Brazi rhythm. Think Arcade Vampire Furnace only chillier. For this rousing record, Klausener's forged a way to wrangle more indie-points than if Santi White slept with SpankRock: he wrote a record pretty much about his mom without sounding too sappy. From the second he sets foot on the "the sanctity of soil" his trembling tenor voice embraces you, and during the incrementally theatrical "Hold Your Breath" you sense his import. But as each progressive step follows mom's life-journey literally, figuratively, firmly and fascinatingly with Honduran music and percussion as its root, he finds a playfulness that a dozen sad cellos and lapsteels can't hinder. Though "Flood Pt.1" is too melodramatic for my taste, the supple subtle "Crooked Legs" has just the perfect mix of mirth and mom-ness. I'm calling home now. - A.D. Amorosi

The Acorn Tour Dates:

Thu. Oct 16 2008 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge++
Fri. Oct 17 2008 - Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern++
Sat. Oct 18 2008 - Portland, OR - Rock Creek Tavern++
Sun. Oct 19 2008 - Bend, OR - Old Saint Francis++
Tue. Oct 21 2008 - San Francisco, CA - Hemlock++
Wed. Oct 22 2008 - Santa Cruz, CA - Crepe Place++
Fri. Oct 24 2008 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland++
Sat. Oct 25 2008 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified++
Tue. Oct 28 2008 - Denver, CO - Hi-Dive++
Wed. Oct 29 2008 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown++
Thu. Oct 30 2008 - Minneapolis, MN - The 7th Street Entry++
Fri. Oct 31 2008 - Madison, WI - Cafe Montmartre++
Sat. Nov 1 2008 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's++
Fri. Nov 7 2008 - Austin, TX - Antone's*
Sat. Nov 8 2008 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre*
Sun. Nov 9 2008 - St. Louis, MO - Duck Room*
Mon. Nov 10 2008 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge*
Wed. Nov 12 2008 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle*
Thu. Nov 13 2008 - Washington DC - 9:30 Club*
Fri. Nov 14 2008 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts*
Sat. Nov 15 2008 - Tarrytown, NY - Tarrytown Theatre*
Sun. Nov 16 2008 - Somerville, MA - Somerville Theatre*
Thu. Nov 20 2008 - Pontiac, MI - Crofoot Ballroom*
Sun. Nov 23 2008 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown*
Mon. Nov 24 2008 - Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre*
Tue. Nov 25 2008 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theater*
Thu. Nov 27 2008 - Toronto, ONT - Lee's Palace#
Fri .Nov 28 2008 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rosa#
Sat. Nov 29 2008 - Ottawa, ONT - Barrymore's Music Hall#

# w/Ohbijou
++ w/Ohbijou, Shaky Hands
* w/Calexico