The Olympic Symphonium is a Canadian

indie folk Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation. The genre has its ...

trio from

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. The band consists of Nick Cobham (guitar), Kyle Cunjak (bass, guitar), and Graeme Walker (guitar, bass). All three musicians swap instruments and take turns singing and songwriting, and are often joined by Dennis Goodwin (lap steel, guitar, banjo) and Bob Deveau (drums).

History

The band was formed in 2005 when Walker who had written songs that didn't fit the style of his primary band, Grand Theft Bus, invited Cunjak and Cobham, two friends who had also written a number of songs that didn't fit their other bands, to join a new side project."The Olympic Symphonium Come Together For Chapter 1"

chartattack.com ''Chart Attack'' was a Canadian online music publication. Formerly a monthly print magazine called ''Chart'', it was published from 1991 to 2009. While the web version appears to be available online, the domain is now used as a popular media outle ...

, August 23, 2007. They released their debut album, ''Chapter One'', in 2007, and sold out of the limited pressings while playing various shows around Atlantic Canada and Quebec. They followed it up with 2008's ''More in Sorrow Than In Anger'', an album that included collaboration with a number of Canadian artists including

Catherine MacLellan Catherine MacLellan is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter, based in Prince Edward Island. Early life The daughter of Canadian songwriter Gene MacLellan, MacLellan was born in Burlington, Ontario but raised in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. ...

Dale Murray Dale Albert Murray (born February 2, 1950) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Career Montreal Expos He was drafted by the Montreal Expos out of Blinn College in Brenham, Texas in the eighteenth round of the 1970 Major League Baseball Dr ...

Jenn Grant Jenn Grant (born August 20, 1980) is a Canadian folk pop singer-songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Career ''Jenn Grant and Goodbye Twentieth Century'' She performed as a musician for a time in her early teens, but stopped due to a bo ...

, Amelia Curran, Joel Leblanc (Hot Toddy) and

Rose Cousins A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

. They toured in North America, and twice in the UK, stopping to record a session at the BBC with Bob Harris. They recorded ''The City Won't Have Time to Fight'' in 2011 in an abandoned house in Fredericton."Festival: To launch its new album, The Olympic Symphonium gathers friends together for a winter weekend of music"
''

The Telegraph-Journal The ''Telegraph-Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. It serves as both a provincial daily and as a local newspaper for Saint John. The newspaper is published by Brunswick News. The ''Telegraph-Journal'' i ...

'', January 22, 2011. To mark the album's release, they organized a weekend music event, Shivering Songs, which featured performances by a variety of the band's friends and collaborators, including

, David Myles,

Snailhouse Michael Feuerstack is a Canadians, Canadian indie rock musician, who has been associated with the bands Wooden Stars and Snailhouse. Snailhouse was essentially a solo project with multiple contributing artists, including Julie Doiron of Eric's ...

, Olenka Krakus and

Grant Lawrence Grant Lawrence (born July 30, 1971) is a Canadian broadcaster, musician and writer based in Vancouver, primarily associated with CBC Music and CBC Radio 3. Lawrence was also the vocalist for the indie rock group The Smugglers.Michael Barclay, Ian ...

. In late 2012 they recorded ''Chance To Fate'' in the Salty Towers Inn in seaside St. Andrews, New Brunswick. This album marked the first time the band hired an outside producer, Joshua Van Tassel. It won 'Recording of the Year' at the 2014 Music New Brunswick awards and was nominated for an

East Coast Music Award The East Coast Music Association is a non-profit association that hosts an annual awards ceremony based in Atlantic Canada for music appreciation on the East Coast of Canada. Its mission is to develop, advance and celebrate East Coast Canadian mus ...

in 2015. In between, the band performed around North America, including the

Atlin Arts & Music Festival The Atlin Arts & Music Festival (AAMF) is an annual arts and music festival directed towards families located in Atlin, British Columbia. The festival has hosted acts such as Michelle Wright, Sloan, Delhi 2 Dublin, Iskwé, Rock Plaza Central, ...

outside of Whitehorse and a Stompin' Tom Tribute Concert in Toronto. In 2018 the band recorded their fifth album, ''Beauty in the Tension'', at The Old Confidence Lodge, a converted Oddfellows Lodge in

Riverport, Nova Scotia Riverport is a village in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The harbour of Ritcey Cove is free from shoals and safe from every wind, considered one of the finest in North America. Riverport is a five-minute drive to several public beaches ...

, and have been performing

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

cover sets. The band performed at the Halifax Urban Folk Festival, and was nominated as Folk Artist of the Year at the Music New Brunswick awards."Fredericton artists shine in MNB awards"
''The Aquinian'', by Johnny James October 1, 2018

Discography

* ''Chapter One'' (2007) * ''More in Sorrow Than in Anger'' (2008) * ''The City Won't Have Time to Fight'' (2011) * ''Chance To Fate'' (2014) * ''Beauty in the Tension'' (2018)

References

External links

The Olympic Symphonium
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Olympic Symphonium, The Musical groups established in 2005 Musical groups from Fredericton Canadian indie rock groups 2005 establishments in New Brunswick