Edmonton artist know as 0Stella has a little Ep. with some big ideas contained within. ’Little Yes, Little Know’ is a powerful collection of four songs written by Liz Pomeroy and produced by Juno-nominated, Brad Simons. On November 1st it drops and it changes everything to do with Edmonton’s artistic landscape.
‘Little Yes, Little Know’ begins by setting ‘Fire’ to our speaker set, if only metaphorically via the opening track of the same name. Like fire itself, the song ignites something powerful to come. Listeners immediately catch Pomeroy’s potent vocal heat as ‘Fire’ bursts through their speakers at Pomeroy’s first strike of her vocal match. What follows is a dynamic range of vocals, production and an authoritative combination of rock, pop and traditional fiddle.
Get woke and move your body all at once as Fire sets alight track 2, ‘Wide Awake’. “Nothing left, you stripped me bare” may seem like the wrong lyric to clap one’s hands to but J Tilley’s robust guitar matched with Joel Jeschke’s infectious drumming will have you ‘Wide Awake’ before too long. If ‘Fire’ hadn’t convinced you that 0Stella will soon be a household name then ‘Wide Awake’ will do that job. Although there are many ways to ‘get woke’ in 2019, jubilantly spinning in your living room to the lyric, “We’re Wide Awake Now” is one I can’t recommend enough.
“Take the best of me” cries Pomeroy on ‘Pandora’, Little Yes, Little Knows grittiest track. “A little bedlam could be so good for you.” I’ve often wondered what opening pandora’s box might offer. In 0Stella’s case, a great song came of it. Pomeroy opens Pandora’s box and seemingly becomes her for having made the effort. The raucous vocal is in full control here on track 3 so you’ll have to go back around again to hear the different layers of musical spit and vinegar. This is 0Stella turned up to 11 both musically and ideologically. On ‘Pandora’, Pomeroy reveals a kindredship with some of rock’s most towering female artists. PJ Harvey, Sleater-Kinney and Big Thief come immediately to mind. Everything about ‘Pandora’ is tremendous in the actual sense- there’s a lot to unpack. The fiddle solo is perfectly off putting in that at first it seems it doesn’t belong then makes the listener question why fiddle isn’t included on all rock pop songs. I remember thinking Beck had lost his mind adding all the banjo licks to his Midnight Vultures album. That’s why outfits like 0Stella are making the albums while I’m left writing about them.
On Little Yes, Little Know’s last track, we are treated to a luring violin section that settles the listener back in for one more trip. ‘Linen’ is perhaps this EP’s finest song. “You got me hanging on” bellows Pomeroy as Jeschke’s drums work hard to match the energy of her clever refrain. Backing vocals soar and circle around in concert with the bottomless spectrum of effected guitars, bass and fiddle. There’s so much happening on ‘Linen’ and yet producer Brad Simons somehow singles out each idea. The listener becomes the mixer as they tune their ear to each distinct line. Much like revisiting Radiohead’s OK Computer, you’ll find something new to latch onto with every listen on Little Yes, Little Know.
Little Yes, Little Know is full of new ideas. It never reaches a stopping point where one might take a break to consider what just happened. It’s very immediate and only requires one give over to the moment in the time it is played.
-- Val Christopher