''Without Feathers'' is the second album by

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band

the Stills The Stills were a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2000 and disbanded in 2011. History The band's original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and guitarist Tim Fletcher, guitarist Gregory Paquet, bassist Olivier Corbeil and dr ...

. It was released May 9, 2006 by

Vice Records A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tr ...

. The album was produced by

Gus Van Go Gus van Go is a music producer, mixer, and musician. He is best known for his work with the Montreal band The Stills, with credits for production, mixing, writing and arranging three albums and one EP with the band. He has also produced and mixed ...

Emily Haines Emily Savitri Haines (born 25 January 1974) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the lead singer, keyboardist and songwriter of the rock band Metric and a member of the musical collective Broken Social Scene. As a solo artist, she has pe ...

from fellow indie band

Metric Metric or metrical may refer to: * Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement * An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement Mathematics In mathem ...

appeared on "Baby Blues," while

Jason Collett Jason Collett is a Toronto-based Canadian singer-songwriter. He has released six solo studio albums, and is a former member of Broken Social Scene. His latest album, ''Song & Dance Man'', was released in February, 2016. Early life Collett was bo ...

Broken Social Scene Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Canning (vocals, bass) in 1999. Alongside Drew and Canning, the oth ...

and Sam Roberts were featured on the track "Oh Shoplifter". The album debuted at No. 6 on the

Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

chart, but failed to hit the ''Billboard'' 200. In Canada, the album did not fare well on the charts. It premiered at No. 51 before moving out of the Top 100 the following week. The album was later released in the UK in 2007 by

Drowned in Sound Recordings ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...

, including two new tracks. ''Without Feathers'' featured a major personnel change; with the departure of original lead guitarist Greg Paquet, drummer

Dave Hamelin Dave Hamelin (born October 3, 1980) is a Canadian musician, songwriter and producer known for his work with indie rock band the Stills. Originally the band's drummer, he moved to guitar and co-lead vocalist in 2005 when guitarist Greg Paquet lef ...

moved to guitar and sang lead vocals on the majority of the album's tracks. It was also the first Stills album to feature keyboardist Liam O'Neil as a full-time member, and was the debut for drummer Julien Blais. The album also marked a big change in sound, from the 1980s-influenced post-punk revivalism of their debut to a happier, more rootsy

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

-oriented approach, which ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'' termed "cheerful and heartfelt".

Track listing

US/Canada edition

UK edition

Personnel

;The Stills *Olivier Corbeil –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

cowbell A cowbell (or cow bell) is a bell worn around the neck of free-roaming livestock so herders can keep track of an animal via the sound of the bell when the animal is grazing out of view in hilly landscapes or vast plains. Although they are t ...

* Tim Fletcher –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

, acoustic guitar *

– vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

, additional recording, mixing * Liam O'Neil –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

organs In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to act together in a f ...

, keyboards,

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

, vocals, additional recording ;Additional musicians * Melissa Auf der Maur – handclaps on "Oh Shoplifter" *Colin Brooks – drums *"Chip" –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

on "Destroyer" and "It Takes Time" *

Evan Cranley Evan Cranley is a Canadian musician based in Montreal, Quebec. He records with the bands Stars and Broken Social Scene, although he considered joining the band Metric before finally joining Stars. Musical career Early on, Cranley was in the band ...

–

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

on "Destroyer" and "It Takes Time" *

Kevin Drew Kevin Drew (born September 9, 1976) is a Canadian musician and songwriter who, together with Brendan Canning, founded the expansive Toronto baroque-pop collective Broken Social Scene. He was also part of the lesser-known KC Accidental, which con ...

– vocals on "She's Walking Out" *Eric Fares – acoustic guitar on "Oh Shoplifter" *

– vocals on "Baby Blues" * Mikey Heppner – handclaps on "Oh Shoplifter" *Neil Johnson – saxophone on "Destroyer" and "It Takes Time" *Alfie Jurvanen –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

on "In the Beginning" and "She's Walking Out" *Meghynn Norman – handclaps on "Oh Shoplifter" *Vincenzo Nudo – percussion on "Oh Shoplifter" *Elizabeth Powell – vocals on "Monsoon" * Sam Roberts – acoustic guitar on "Oh Shoplifter" *Felix Trenton – guitar on "Oh Shoplifter" ;Production *Adam "Bix" Berger – management, vocals on "In the Beginning" and "Destroyer", handclaps on "Oh Shoplifter" *Werner F. – mixing *Ryan Morey – mastering *Cristophe Rihet –

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

*Mathieu Roberge – assistant engineer, handclaps on "Oh Shoplifter" *Rod Shearer – recording *

Gus van Go Gus van Go is a music producer, mixer, and musician. He is best known for his work with the Montreal band The Stills, with credits for production, mixing, writing and arranging three albums and one EP with the band. He has also produced and mixed ...

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

, mixing,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

, percussion on "Destroyer", cowbell on "Helicopters", guitar on "The House We Live In", tambourine on "She's Walking Out", handclaps on "Oh Shoplifter" *Patrick Watson – additional recording

References

{{Authority control 2006 albums The Stills albums Vice Records albums Albums produced by Gus van Go