The Vanity of Reason is a new album out today from Ottawa-based musician Estan Beedell. The album features ten tracks which range from mellow, jazzy musings in “Clouds,” to fun, lively rock in “Caricature.” Throughout the different songs, various ensembles of instruments including violins, trumpets, and even a church organ, provide a neat, classic touch to Beedell’s smooth, catchy vocals.
This is Beedell’s third album, but it was the first time that he collaborated with so many other musicians, many of which are friends of his from his days at Canterbury High School here in Ottawa.
“A few years ago, I self-produced an album where I played all the instruments myself… but I think with [The Vanity of Reason] I realized the benefit of having more brains involved and… bringing in my friends who are very talented at what they do,” says Beedell.
Beedell moved to Montreal for a while after high school, which is where he started to get into playing live shows in small venues and bars, and playing with other musician friends. When he was working on this album, he says he was helped by his friends’ varying musical experiences, which included everything from Afrobeat to jazz backgrounds. His own experience going to school for music focused more on classical composition, which he says made him tend to think of music in very structured parts.
“I’ve always liked the idea of pushing rock in a more experimental and classically influenced direction. I guess I come from a classical background, in a way. But I also realize the cheesiness and overly kind of self-indulgent ridiculousness of a lot of the ‘70s rock stuff,” he says.
Beedell’s other big influences include British rock group ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) and Fela Kuti, a Nigerian musician and social activist who pioneered Afrobeat music.
“I got really into (Kuti’s music), and I sort of tried to take the live energy of that type of music and combine it with my own classical background,” Beedell says.
There’s an easy, playful touch to the way Beedell experiments with different sounds in The Vanity of Reason, but the album also shows off creative and insightful song-writing as he explores ideas about progress and changes in society.
“I was thinking about optimism and naivety, and I was sort of drawing a parallel between normal life growing up and changing the way the way I think about things, and also (changes in) different periods (in history).”
“At the end of the 1800s, there was a movement called Positivism, which was like using an absolute base of science to resolve everything, and that’s where the title comes from – the vanity of reason – because it’s questioning how that really turned out.”
“It’s more like saying that it was in vain, thinking we could solve everything with rationality when we’re irrational, driven more by emotion, greed, and power than anything else.”
Beedell will be playing an album release show at Zaphod’s tomorrow night and he is planning to play more shows in Ottawa and Montreal over the summer.
He says he’s glad to be back in Ottawa right now.
“Most of the people I’ve ever worked with are from Ottawa, and we’ve all kind of moved, some to Toronto, some in Montreal…I guess Ottawa has a bit of a – not that I’m putting myself in this category, necessarily – a brain drain of the artist community, “ he reflected.
“But I think there are a lot of good things happening in Ottawa, and I think the trend can hopefully be reversed.”
Have a listen to The Vanity of Reason below.
Estan’s album release party is at Zaphod Beebelbrox nightclub on Wednesday, June 10, 2015. Special guests include Kilmanjaro, Illitry and Grey White Blue 1972. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online. Doors at 8pm.
