Victoria, BC's Current Swell are heading to the Maritimes for shows this week, and don't be surprised if they are acting a little giddy and foolish on-stage. In fact, it may be a great time to shout out requests, either from their new album, or like this: "Buy the house a round!" That's because the group has just won the biggest cash prize in Canadian music. While the Junos and the Polaris Prize may be better known and prestigious, I can assure you nobody would turn down the PEAK Performance Project prize. That's because it comes with a cheque for $100,500. Seriously. Awarded by the PEAK radio station in Vancouver and the BC Music Industry Association, it's to help emerging artists with some experience have a career in music. That's a serious chunk of career for any band.

Long Time Ago is the group's fourth album, and they've been putting them, plus touring, fast and furiously. That's resulted in a pretty sizable fan base, and a new (and rare these days) major record deal with Warner. Current Swell play this somewhat undefined mix of groove music that's very popular in the college-to-30's crowd, who like outdoor festivals and jam bands and Jack Johnson and maybe would have followed Phish a few years ago. Now the allegiance lies with some heritage artists (say, The Allman Brothers crowd, Warren Haynes, that stuff), some of the Dave Matthews crowd, and newer bands don't mind acoustic guitar and a bit of reggae beat.

If there's a spiritual sound that defines this crowd, it's the moment in The Band's The Weight, when the three lead singers harmonize in the chorus, "And...and ...AND ..You put the load right on me." I saw it this past September at a Levon Helm show in Fredericton, at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival. Helm can barely croak a note now, but the people where there for this song, and were going to enjoy it, so they sang the parts loud and fine. It's like the national anthem of (whatever I am going to name this). Current Swell tease the ears with that sound, including a bit of it on the cut For The Land on this album. It's a great example of mixing old and new. It starts out with a banjo, but its mixed with a single synth line, which sounds like an Ennio Morricone theme from a spaghetti western. Then on the "for the land" chorus, the group hits the first "Land", and then the second "land", and you're waiting for the third, which would completely match The Weight's trademark harmonies. Being smart fellows, they never add the third part, but leave us hanging. The effect is the same though. This is environment-Occupy-festival-friendly music.

Elsewhere, you get lots of acoustic sounds like guitars and harps over top of the usual rock band bass-drums, and a pretty happy vibe. There's some Fleet Foxes harmonies and such as well. Expect them to be even more lighthearted, but heavy-walleted if you see them here:

Nov 30 - Fredericton, NB @ Nicky Zee's

Dec 1 - Charlottetown, PEI @ Baba's Lounge

Dec 2 - Halifax, NS @ The Pavilion

Dec 3 - Moncton, NB @ Manhattan's