Listen to this track by transplanted Ottawa trio now based in Toronto, the Balconies. It’s their new single “Kill Count” with B-side “Tiger”, both currently featured on an EP of the same name Kill Count, and serving as an outlier to their upcoming 2012 full-length album. You can buy the EP when you see the Balconies live.

The band have traded in a style of pop-rock music that incorporates power-pop, post-punk, and with a dash of surf-rock in there for good measure just to make it all danceable. Lead vocalist and guitarist Jacquie Neville’s voice is a soaring instrument, backed up by the fluid bass playing of her brother Stephen Neville, and anchored by drummer Liam Jaeger.

The band started in the basement as two classically trained music students and a brother. Their subterranean rock ‘n’ roll racket led to success with the impossibly catchy single “Serious Bedtime”, a self-recorded release, and shared stage appearances with Sloan, Mother Mother, Cold War Kids, and others. They’ve since been named as a band to watch by the National Post and MSN Canada.

I was offered a download of the Balconies’ recent EP. Through the wonders of email, I chatted with drummer Liam Jaeger on the subject of its lead track, vinyl releases in the 21st century, working up their forthcoming album, and about the so-called inevitable trek from Ottawa to Toronto.

*** Read more