KEVIN HEARN & THINBUCKLE -
H - Wing
2001 Celery Music
C.G. - bass, and backing vocals on all tracks
kalimba on Driftwood
Electric guitar on A Beginning
percussion on Bonefight
co-composer on Minnow Trap
Produced by MICHAEL PHILLIP WOJEWODA
Mastered by TED JENSEN at Sterling Sound
A Beginning
Minnow Trap
H-Wing was nominated for a JUNO Award in 2002
for "best album design".
reviews
"While battling leukemia, Barenaked Ladies keyboard player Kevin Hearn spent a month in isolation in the H-Wing of Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital. The appropriately titled H-Wing is the product of his songwriting therapy during this tumultuous time.
Emerging cancer-free, Hearn teamed up with former Look People bandmates Great Bob Scott (drums) and Chris Gartner (bass), Rheostatics singer-guitarist Martin Tielli and multi-instrumentalist Derek "Aardy" Orford. The resulting band, Thin Buckle, add alt.country twang and oddball funk and jazz touches to Hearn’s maudlin vocals. Members of Barenaked Ladies, By Divine Right and the Rheostatics add instrumental and vocal support.
Hearn’s quirky lyrics range from humorous asides — he feels like “Nick Rhodes without his gel” on “Driftwood” — to direct confrontations with his illness. “Mouth Of A Shadow” offers his most enlightening lines:
“Don’t give in they’ll say/ There’s nowhere to run anyway/I have decided to stay/And take on the shadow/That darkens the day.”
While others would drown these lyrics in melodramatic song arrangements, Hearn and company opt instead for minimal instrumentation, letting the words carry their own power. It’s this Spartan aesthetic that makes H-Wing such an engaging listen."
Chart Attack
"This is a strangely morbid but whimsical record. Then again, consider the not so wellspring from whence it came. Kevin Hearn has been a musical man about town for nearly 20 years and it shows on the line-up for his latest solo outing, H-Wing. A few years ago, he was diagnosed with leukemia, bringing to an abrupt halt his career with the Barenaked Ladies.
During the cancerous invasion by both cells and surgeons, Hearn himself got a rare insight into a place where few get to glimpse and live to tell, and we are privileged to have the artist back to recount his tale. H Wing has an otherworldly feel to the "cut to the bone" lyrics, as with "The Good One." Reading these words will evoke goose bumps because they sound as if they were intended to be a posthumous diary of sorts. In particular, "Death Bed Love Letter" will certainly bring forth tears.
The eerie music and background voices lend to the feeling of gratitude Hearn likely feels at being able to sing these words himself and having his friends, the Thin Buckle band, along for the ride. These friends include Martin Tielli, Derek Orford and Chris Gartner, among many more credited on the record.
Is H Wing a labour of love? In a way it is. Love of life, of friends, of spirit, of the tenacity of one incredibly talented man to use the strength of personality to survive such an ordeal; if you are not moved by this record, you have no soul."
Carol Harrison(Nettwerk)
Kevin wrote a lot of dark songs to reflect his dark times while confined to the hospital during his recovery. Much of this writing became the basis of his second solo album H-Wing. "I wrote the whole thing while I was in isolation," he says. "There's the darkness of the situation, but also a lot of lyrics about hope and transcending the situation and the challenges, and some humour, too."
When not off touring with Barenaked Ladies, Kevin's Toronto based band, Thin Buckle, affords him yet another outlet for his tragicomic muse. The band is comprised of some of Kevin's favourite players, from bands like The Rheostatics, and his old band Look People.
"It's three guys from Look People" Kevin explains. "We've got Derek Orford, and there's Chris Gartner on the bass, and they're joined by Great Bob Scott, who plays quite tastefully on the drums. And then there's Martin Tielli on the guitar." One song, originally intended for Thin Buckle was recorded by Barenaked Ladies for Maroon. Although it didn't quite fit in the final running order, and was relegated to a bonus track on the initial pressings of Maroon, "Hidden Sun" is one of the most arrestingly humble and beautiful songs I've ever heard. I hope you get to hear it too. It's not surprising that Kevin would hook up with the Rheostatics' Tielli, who also played on Mothball Mint. Kevin is a key player on at least 2 of the Rheos' most serious works.
from BARENAKED LADIES, The Authorized Biography
"Public Stunts, Private Stories"
by Paul Myers
