In case you hadn’t noticed, we got hit with a pretty hefty winter this year. January and February especially were pretty full-on with what felt like daily snow storms and squalls (what is the difference between a squall and a storm? Anyone know?)
Anyways, we all spent a lot of our time with our toques on and shovels in hand clearing driveways and sidewalks, leaving less time for creative projects. Or maybe you just let the snow accumulate, stayed inside and worked on cool shit. Adam Ferri is a combination of the two. He spent a good deal of time shovelling the long driveway that leads to his cool studio in Big Bay, aptly named Big Bay Sound, and when he came inside after all his hard work, he set to working on a cool creative project, The Smoking Pets.
See, he’s been recording other musicians for years now, but Ferri felt it was time to record his own music for a change. Consider this Bay Records’ first official release, a cool 4 song EP that stays true to some of Ferri’s early art-rock influences
It’s a fun listening experience with each song presented as a short vignette built around its own idea and with its own mood. It’s a short EP, but perfect for those times in your day when you’ve got ten minutes and want to chill out, zone out, vibe out, or whatever you like to call it. This is perfect for those moments in the day.
“The purpose of the project was to keep myself from going full Jack Torrance while snowed in and isolated at my Big Bay Studio this brutal winter,” Ferri says. “I’ve played in bands and recorded other people’s music forever but I never really did anything that was 100% me so I decided to try something just for fun. I put the whole thing together a little at a time over about 6 weeks, just when I was feeling creative and tired of plowing the driveway, keeping the dog occupied or watching Netflix. Smoking pets is an imaginary band (think Sgt. Pepper) but it’s like if those dogs in the old paintings got tired of playing poker and wanted to get a little psychedelic. Stylistically I guess I’d say it’s inspired by 90’s alternative art rock bands like, Beck, the Flaming Lips, Grandaddy, Eels and Ween”
I might throw some Primus into the mix as well, which I find evident on the first track, Letter. Ferri experiments with vocal stylings on each track and no more than on this first one where he takes on the persona of a disgruntled citizen complaining about the government (sounds familiar – that’s my whole social media feed these days) except they are sitting down to a write a letter on an old typewriter with the keys clicking away in the background. It sets you up for a sonic experience that blends music with sound effects.
Moon opens with an unmistakable 90s alt-rock guitar intro before shifting into a cosmic vibe that will take you on a journey. In this case, he takes us to the moon and back, but you don’t really need to leave your chair for this trip. Settle in for two minutes spacing out.
Anyone who grew up during the days of dial-up internet while get a wave of nostalgia with the opening to Daze. A throwback to the early days of the internet, it’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to resetting a bad day by turning it off and on, like we used to with our old Commodore 64s when they weren’t working, or like I did with my Nintendo to keep playing Street Fighter 2. The commentary seems to be that more we rely on technology in our lives, the more it has the ability to ruin our day.
With U is my favourite to zone out to and definitely takes me back to some of my favourite art rock bands from my youth. It’s a nostalgia trip wrapped in a blanket of fuzzed out vocals and soft guitar. The guitar solo is a nice touch to really put you at ease here.
“I decided on keeping the songs short, vignettes, just little ideas or moods of varying styles to take you on a little journey and hold the listeners attention,” Ferri says. “I know my personal attention span in this Tik Tok age seems to have shortened.”
If you’ve got around ten minutes and want to go on this journey through Ferri’s range of moods soaked in chill vibes, these four cool vignettes are just the ticket. And I know you have a few spare minutes – that snow is melted, there’s no more shoveling to do (maybe an eavestrough or two to fix), and Spring is not quite hear yet. Take the time. I highly recommend this. It’s a great example of someone letting their creative outlets fly and finding their project has wings.
I love when people get creative and try something interesting – it’s how good art is born. Listen to Four Vignettes by The Smoking Pets here.
Written by Jesse Wilkinson
