It's been over 15 years since The Great Balancing Act began injecting our local music scene with its own funky brand of music and its new album Cherry Bomb just keeps up the good work. With 11 new tracks that were all recorded around one drum loop, the album should make long-time fans of the band very happy. Its laid-back poppy sound accompanied by quirky lyrics will be a welcome addition to any summer playlists.

Former member and current Divorcees front man Alex Madsen shows up on a few tracks to play some lead guitar which is an added bonus.The band has always ignored musical trends and done its own thing and, time and time again, it's the fans who are rewarded with great music.

Pick up Cherry Bomb, you won't be disappointed.

Highlights include: The Ballad of Bobby Burt, Monkey and Projector.
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The sweet sounds of Moncton's Great Balancing Act grace us once again. The band's simplistic indie-pop is sure to please fans of groups such as Papas Fritas, or whoever gravitates towards the groovy, hum-along pop melodies evident on tracks such as Asha, Plane Jane, and Red Roses. With shows throughout the Maritimes this coming summer, expect the GBA pop gospel to be spread far and wide.

- Ken Kelley
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Great Balancing Act in today's Acadie Nouvelle (12 mai, 2010) Wednesday, 12 May 2010 at 16:00 | Edit note | Delete

Les membres de Great Balancing Act, Sara Parks, Jean-Pierre Morin et Nina Khosla, proposent un album rafraîchissant.

MONCTON - Seize années après sa première prestation, le groupe funky pop de Moncton Great Balancing Act est de retour avec un nouvel album, Cherry Bomb. Une musique rafraîchissante, idéale pour la saison estivale.

Cherry Bomb est de la musique pop pour la nouvelle ère de l'«Apopalypse», soutient 'auteurcompositeur-interprète Jean-Pierre Morin, alias Jeep de Great Balancing Act.

«Pour nous, l'Apocalypse annoncée en 2012 représente plutôt quelque chose de nouveau, au lieu de la fin du monde», a déclaré Jean-Pierre Morin, qui a composé la majorité des chansons du disque Cherry Bomb. Au lieu de voir tout en noir, la formation anglophone de Moncton propose plutôt l'espoir pour essayer de changer l'esprit. Comment être subversif tout étant créatif, positif et optimiste? Voilà ce que tente de faire Jeep avec sa musique et ses films.

«Ce n'est pas que nous sommes nécessairement du monde positif, c'est juste que nous n'avons pas le choix. Pour moi, la situation est trop critique en ce moment sur la planète pour se permettre de se plaindre. Je crois que ça prend de l'espoir, car c'est l'espoir qui donne de la force», a soutenu Jeep (voix, guitare et clavier). Celui-ci et Nina Khosla (basse et voix) constituent le coeur de Great Balancing Act. En 16 ans, le groupe a subi plusieurs transformations. Des musiciens ont quitté la formation, tandis que d'autres s’y sont greffés. Il y a eu aussi des pauses, parce que les membres du groupe vivaient dans différentes villes canadiennes. Jean-Pierre Morin, qui partage son temps entre le cinéma et la musique, a vécu pendant de nombreuses années à Calgary, où il a enseigné le cinéma d'animation. En 16 ans, la formation a réalisé huit enregistrements, dont six disques. Le plus récent opus, Cherry Bomb, a été conçu un peu comme une expérience. Jeep s'est donné comme défi de composer toutes les chansons sur le même tempo.

«J'avais comme section rythmique un loop (échantillon) de batterie de deux minutes 43 secondes et j'ai composé des mélodies sur la guitare. Les chansons sont sur le même tempo et elles ont presque toutes la même longueur. Je me suis dit que j'allais faire un disque où on n'a pas le temps de se tanner des chansons», a expliqué Jean-Pierre Morin. Reprenant un peu le son de certains groupes des années 1960 et 1970, le disque a été réalisé de façon minimaliste, sans effets spéciaux. Jean-Pierre Morin raconte qu'il écrit un peu de la perspective d'un extraterrestre qui arriverait sur Terre pour observer l'humanité.

En bref... Le nouvel album de Great Balancing Act réunit aussi Sara Parks (batterie et voix), ainsi que le guitariste Alex Madsen, du groupe Divorcees. Le lancement aura lieu au club le Plan B, à Moncton, vendredi (14 mai), à compter de 21 h 30. Le groupe donnera plusieurs spectacles cet été dans les Provinces maritimes...
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Sometimes we all need a breath of fresh air.  You're stuck inside at your desk all day, sick of work, what you need is to step outside and take a deep breath.  We know this works, and you can extend it as a metaphor into other aspects of your life.  Take music for example.  We tend to stick to what we know, what we like, the same few bands, or styles.  Too often you can get stuck in a rut, listening to the same stuff.  You need a musical breath of fresh air.
 
That's how I see Moncton's Great Balancing Act, and their new disc, Cherry Bomb.  It's such a happy, poppy, pleasant, sweet and rich disc, it's like a breath of fresh air to enjoy.  Sure, I like loud guitars and drums, I like a singer who shouts, I can dig the power of rock and roll.  But every once and awhile, it's good to remind your brain that happy and light are just as important as cool and brooding.
 
Great Balancing Act are one of the province's longest-serving bands, having started way back in 1994.  The group features originals Jeep Morin, singer and guitar player, and bass player and singer Nina Khosla.  They started writing fresh pop songs back in the early 90's, and moving to Moncton from Montreal, they set up this long running art collective.  Jeep, you see, is also a cartoonist, which fits perfectly, as the songs are filled with a cartoon fun, and funny characters like a little monkey.  In fact, many of the songs on Cherry Bomb have already been turned into cartoon videos, including that very monkey, the star of Morin's full-length animinated film Monkeytown...Moncton...get it?
 
Anyway, I'm sure you're starting to get the feel of what's behind the songs...lightness and humour are perfectly matched in the sweet harmonies and 60's and 70's bubblegum pop sound.  It's pretty basic guitar-bass-drums-keys, with an emphesis on the boy-girl vocals.  Joining the original Great Balancing Act duo are newcomer Sarah Parks on drums and more vocals, and a special guest star handling the lead guitar, none other than Moncton axeman Alex Madson, the frontman for the much-loved ECMA winning country band The Divorcees.
 
If you're still having a little trouble imagining the sound of Cherry Bomb, perhaps it will help to imagine The B-52's, only not so frantic, crossed with the surrealism of DEVO.  In fact, the lone cover on the disc is a Devo song, That's Good."  The rest is from the furtive imagination of the group, which includes outerspace characters, quotes from Obi-Wan Kenobi,  a world where Frank Sinatra has a love child with Cleopatra, and where bombs are good not bad.  Or as they sing, "it's not the scary bomb, it's the cherry bomb."
 
The disc  will be launched this Friday, May 14th, at Plan B Lounge, on St. George in Moncton.  It's one of those great deals where you pay the cover charge of fifteen bucks, and that includes getting the CD as part of the admission.  Tickets are $15 and include a CD. You can also buy it online through CDBaby and iTunes.
So now, it's time for your musical breath of fresh air.  From Great Balancing Act, and the new disc Cherry Bomb, here's the tune...Breath Of Fresh Air.
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