Vancouver’s Inhabitants are a Juno-nominated instrumental quartet featuring JP Carter, Dave Sikula, Pete Schmitt and Skye Brooks.Their new album “A Vacant Lot” explores the dynamic relationship between chaos and form through experimental sound, intuitive group interplay and instrumental composition. Formed in 2004, Vancouver’s Inhabitants have ascended to become one of Canada’s most prominent creative music ensembles. In 2009, Inhabitants were nominated for a Juno Award for ‘Instrumental Album of the Year’, a National Jazz Award for ‘Electric Group of the Year’ and a Western Canadian Music Award for ‘Instrumental Recording of the Year’. Their singular approach defies genre, melding jazz, rock, noise and free improvisation with new perspective. Trumpeter JP Carter, guitarist Dave Sikula, bassist Pete Schmitt and drummer Skye Brooks find a rare cohesiveness in Inhabitants, cultivated from years of musical collaboration in groups like Fond of Tigers, Copilots, Carsick, DarkBlueWorld, The NOW Orchestra, Tony Wilson’s 6tet, and the Aeroplane Trio. Inhabitants continue to push forward into new sonic territory with “A Vacant Lot”, their third full-length on Drip Audio. Spacious and expressive, the new album explores the dynamic relationship between chaos and form through experimental sound, intuitive group interplay and instrumental composition. There is new diversity in the music; rich textured landscapes augmented by electronics and feedback are contrasted with moments of intimate acoustic minimalism. A reflective mood pervades the new landscape Inhabitants occupy on A Vacant Lot, their improvisations and compositions permeated with an uncommon, yet alluring lyricism. In 2005, the Inhabitants released their self-titled debut (Drip Audio), an album Down Beat magazine described as “an aural introduction to a dream”. Textura.org also voiced approval, saying the band “strikes just the right balance between experimentation and structure”. Later that year the group recieved the CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award at the 2005 Vancouver International Jazz Festival. In 2006, the Inhabitants toured Europe, performing at the Moers Festival in Germany. They were billed as “the most exciting new band in Canada”. Inhabitants’ second-full length,”The Furniture Moves Underneath”, was released in 2007 to critical acclaim. Down Beat gave the album a four star review and The Globe and Mail called it “one of the coolest discs of the year”. The Inhabitants also received three major Canadian music award nominations following the CD’s release including a Juno nod for Instrumental Album of the Year, and the National Jazz Awards’ Electric Group of the Year. from www.sonicbids.com
