There's something curious, almost hard to believe, about the hottest band on the charts these days from Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). There's not a fiddle in the bunch. No one has an accordion. Zero penny whistles.
It's not just a commentary on stereotypes. NL is, unless you've been living under a rock instead of paying attention to the culture of "the rock," one of the world's great hotbeds for music.
The entire Canadian Maritime region can join in that movement but NL is the pointy end of that spear, and it is rooted in acoustic folk traditions.
So how, then, can anyone explain the surging success of synth-pop dance rockers Repartee? They pulse with beats more akin to Blondie at their New York peak, or Ellie Goulding crashing the London gates. They would be in the same Canadian family as Dear Rouge or Dragonette, not Ron Hynes or Rawlins Cross.
Repartee is the first to tell you they would be an altogether different band if they hadn't moved to Toronto. Front-woman Meg Warren was the first, followed by the other three band members in turn. It wasn't done to leave anything behind, they all adore their home province, but if you want to play modern new-wave, you have to cross the watery waves. The gulf between traditional music and cutting edge music is wider than the St. Lawrence.
"There's a lot of great music coming out of Newfoundland but not a whole lot of pop industry infrastructure there," Warren said.
"We are relatively new to a lot of it. Our management team has had a big influence on how we write and make our art. Not in the sense that they told us what to do, but they introduced us to this whole other world that we weren't aware of."
That new world doesn't arrange a set of musicians in a recording studio, each one doing their part in the mix, and someone hits the "record" button.
Pop music made for the radio and dance club is an evolution beyond that recording style. It requires specialized tools and knowledgeable technicians that aren't available in most towns across the country. Even though Repartee is comprised of highly trained musicians - Warren is a graduate of Memorial University's opera program - they had never heard the job titles of the people they needed to make the music they heard in their heads. They needed beat makers and top-line writers. Until they arrived in Toronto, a hub for urban music, they didn't know what they didn't know. But now they know. You know?
"A lot of it is done in a computer with software instruments, and that was really new to us," Warren said.
"If it was happening in Newfoundland we were not aware of it. Before, we were a pop band essentially approaching things like a rock band. We had no idea. It was like a whole other world."
You can hear the results right now on the Canadian airwaves. Their single Dukes is a snappy pop anthem that's knocking out critics and scoring with fans.
The whole country is now discovering what The Rock already knew. There's video of Repartee live in concert in St. John's where the audience takes over singing another of their singles I Would Die Before You. Their hometown locals hang on this band's every word, and it's an audience already steeped in music.
Another video shows Max Kerman of superstar rock band Arkells spontaneously joining Repartee on stage to sing Dukes alongside Warren and the band.
This mass appeal has been building. Repartee is new to a lot of Canadians, but they've been pumping out music on a wide scale since 2010. The stage savvy and the record sales got the attention of Marianas Trench who called them up to be the opening act on their latest tour. Marianas Trench, Shawn Hook and Repartee fill out the marquee at CN Centre on Tuesday night.
It's the first time Warren and company have been into the northern section of provincial Canada. They have been to B.C. to perform before, and even into the interior (Kelowna) but when they kick off the tour in Prince George, it will be their debut in this city. Warren was practically giddy with excitement about that aspect alone.
The band got great receptions in their previous B.C. appearances, so she had her fingers crossed that P.G. would be up to that challenge.
"It was kind of like people on the east coast. The culture of going to shows and going out to see bands is very much alive on the east coast and we found that very true as well on the west coast. That's definitely something we're looking forward to," she said.
Understandably, when someone from NL looks at a map, or even travels the general area, Prince George might come off as being part of that whole west coast region. She didn't mind the detail that there are no oceans anywhere near B.C.'s central city.
"We have a lot of ocean in our lives," she said, forgivingly. "You guys can offer grizzly bears and cool mountains." And, hopefully, screaming fans at CN Centre on Tuesday night.
Repartee will take the stage first thing at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available.
