Northern lights are those ethereal treats of colour dancing down to earth from up high in the air. Aurora brings dancing sounds, the oscillating waves of bass and drums, the primary washes of piano and subtle highlights of guitar coming through from somewhere behind the mix. Northern lights are caused by the sensual collision of energy bursts from the sun with the moist skin of the atmosphere. Aurora is caused by the musical alchemy of Bright City Heights.
BCH is the band from northern B.C. causing the biggest radio stir in the rest of Canada right now, and their new song Aurora is particularly bright on their horizon.
There are many other musical groups from a wide range of genres that are similarly gaining their footholds on the national mountain, too, like Black Spruce Bog, Naomi Kavka, Corbin Spensely, Raghu Lokanathan, Jerusha White, Marcel Gagnon and many others. All these acts and many more besides from within the city will be shown off to the incoming flux of people magnetized to Prince George by the Canada Winter Games.
The Games also triggered other songwriters to produce music inspired by this event. Chief among those are longtime Smithers singer Mark Perry and well-known Francois Lake performer Rachelle Van Zanten. Each has a new tune that came forward from the muse of the Canada Winter Games. As was Aurora, which BCH submitted unsolicited to the Games organizers early in their mandate. The folkish pop-rock number was almost instantly grabbed as their unofficial anthem for the events leading up to the extravaganza.
"We sensed a great opportunity with the Games coming to write something to inspire the north," said frontman and keyboard player Lee-Wai Yu. "At the very least we thought great, we have a good song, but they contacted us hoping we would go along with them on the torch relay, perform in Prince George at the 100 Days Out event, and then we even get to play Aurora at the opening ceremonies. It has been a surreal experience."
"The opportunity we got to perform in a lot of B.C. communities across the north was unbelievable," said Nick Tindale. It is his drumming that rattles like machine gun bursts from out of the Aurora mix. "A band can do a tour, but there is something really special about being part of the torch relay. It is a whole other side you get to see, and we were lucky to be part of that."
As the torch marathons closer to ground zero, another local musician nodded with recognition of those feelings BCH is experiencing right now. Cindy Larsen Marcotte is the region's representative to the BC Arts Council, and as a member of the folk-pop trio The Pucks she got to open for Crash Test Dummies at the Commonwealth Games festival in Victoria. Her band was also a featured act during Juno Week when the awards show was last hosted by Vancouver, featured again at the Western Canadian Music Awards, they were the first music group ever to perform at the Prince George Civic Centre and they opened the new Vancouver Convention Centre, they played for Queen Elizabeth II when the UNBC campus was officially opened, and they've held many other major spotlights.
So much good fortune has come their way, said Marcotte, that they deliberately did not apply for any official performance roles at these Games, in order for others to get that chance. And she is leading the applause for what BCH is accomplishing now, since a particular experience she had with Aurora.
"I was driving along listening to the radio and this amazing song came on," she said. "It was new to me, but it just grabbed me. I had to pull over to the side of the road and give it my full attention. I was just riveted. I had to know who did this amazing song, I waited to hear the deejay, I was expecting to hear 'that was the latest from Coldplay' or something like that but the deejay said 'this is our own Prince George band Bright City Heights.' Well it's a good thing I was parked already, or I'd have probably driven off the road."
A whole package of songs like Aurora was being concocted by BCH over the past year (the band also includes Patrick Michaud on guitar and David Baycroft on bass). With that single leading the way, the whole album - called Rain Season - will be released during the Canada Winter Games flurry.
"We are in the mixing and mastering process right now, and then it is into booking ourselves into some festivals and doing some touring later in the year," said Yu. "We're not putting any expectations on this, we just enjoy doing music together, we enjoy playing the music for live audiences, we like the process of music making, so we'll see where it all goes."
For sure it will go back to some of the same communities around northern B.C. they have just been to with the torch relay events. Yu said the audiences in some places were particularly responsive, and booking agents approached them stage-side for return engagements.
"It was a unique way of reaching a new audience," said Yu. "We are all experienced musicians, but a tour of this huge region is still a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we have to thank the Games people for embracing us and letting us be part of all this excitement."
The song's lyrics never come out and literally talk about Canadian particulars. It is all hinted at in lines like "illuminate the skies...in red and white" to call up national pride from a more symbolic level. It never talks literally about sports, but the rolling melody and spirited rhythm has the feel of athletics in action.
"My family and I have always gown up through sports," said Yu. "I know how much that meant to sacrifice and struggle and strive, and I identify with the people who support that, and the hard work, and taking what you've learned to built yourself towards one moment to shine. There are also little references about the north because I wanted to emphasize the things that make us special and powerful."
The interlocking communities of sports and arts is one of the things northern B.C. does best - grassroots support and participation in athletics as well as culture. BCH is a product of that growing momentum, and they will add their own sparks of light on Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. at CN Centre when the Winter Games Opening Ceremonies are held. Even if there are no northern lights to be seen, there will be Aurora.
