Colour outside the lines

By Kathy Schaerer

One of the latest local CDs to hit the Calgary scene is Colouring Season’s Crime Fighter. This debut album was recorded on a travelling carnival. The journey went from Seattle to Saskatchewan as songwriter and central musician Faisal Sethi explains. "Notice the Kings English (in the name, Colouring Season)" says Sethi, "I’m a Canadian at heart."

The album has a relaxed atmosphere with a mix of fun to sad topics–perfect to listen to on a rainy day.

Sitting in a café with Faisal’s good friend and promotions man Karl S. for support, the situation is gentle and honest–a similar feeling to the album.

"I write, kind of nursery rhymes," says Sethi. "I guess at the same time there’s some pretty deep undertones."

Tracks feature themes of love such as the title track "Chercher La Femme," but also the topic of the death of Faisal’s mother in "Believe."

"I thought it would be important to include that aspect of my life; I thought I’d pay some tribute, so to speak," says Sethi.

Sethi recently started his own label called Lot Fifteen Records as a way to give  a little bit of credibility to the record. Starting the label also allowed Sethi to do things he wanted, to artistically maintain some sort of integrity with the record, he explains. Consequently, the album is under-produced, but has an organic and honest feeling.

It’s also instrumentally interesting as it features everything from an acoustic guitar to strings and a trombone, with 13 different musicians included on the album. This adds greatly to tracks like "Naptime", a lamentful lullaby with soothing strings. Becoming Faisal’s most personally rewarding song, he explains it started out with an acoustic guitar and vocals but turned into a grander piece with the string section and the percussion added after.

Another jewel on the album is "Pocket Full of Mojos," an upbeat, grungy-cute song with the feeling of eating a pocket-full of mojos. It’s the kind of song that would make anyone smile.