Repair

So much as it is heard, Repair is found—whirling a language of silver sound around the disquietude of borders and the static of landscapes. In a seamless concision of sound and lyric, Repair earns our ears through their reparation of fractured space—the in-betweens of “What Was” and “What Is.” Repair’s craft pays homage to exacting emotions through the humbling bravery of Dawn Lewis’ blue-coloured voice painted onto Matt and Mark Thibideau’s surgically precise soundscapes. Like a floating bottle plucked from a cold lake at night, each track holds a new idea, rocking us to sleep with an ebb, then propelling us awake with a flow. Repair’s craft was cultivated in small-town Ontario above the swollen shadows of the Canadian/American border. In a space where sound is defined in relation to its absence, their success began quietly as Wax Bean Orchard during the “hungover from the 80s” early 90s. Against the thorny silence of the landscape Repair’s language of sound first began its evolution. The members evolved into the chattering grid of Toronto together in purpose, but separate in action. The city’s ambiguous position—hated and loved simultaneously—became the atmosphere, pulling each member along individual paths. In the midst of individual projects, Repair began as a non-vocal, electronic duo—Matt and Mark—releasing their first record, Black Line Display with Dumb Unit Records in 2001. The record pulled attention from the worldwide stage with its refined, sophisticated style. That same year, Repair signed with Germany’s Sub-Static Records based out of Cologne and released V-Wreck. Following these releases, Repair performed at Montréal’s Mutek Festival and toured Germany’s electronic music scene—their Sturm und Drang aesthetic found a second home in German electronic music culture. Soon to follow, the Thibideau brothers reprised with Dawn in the interest of immersing their musical frameworks into her liquid vocals—the once rooted duo became an infinite trio. Holding Back Fears, released with Sub-Static in 2002, was Repair’s first vocal record. 2003 brought about a second European tour—Repair’s first as a trio—as performers at Valencia’s Observatori Festival in Spain. In 2004, Repair began the construction of a personal studio in a humble, high-ceilinged loft tucked into Toronto’s tightly-knit Polish community. Nothing short of a stepping into an 80s sci-fi tech noir, Repair’s homemade soundproof recording studio is home to the legendary ARP 2600, a 1984 Emu Emulator2 8 bit sampler and a Roland System 100m analog synthesizer. Recently added to the mix was a 1985 Synclavier, refurbished from its suffering condition in a feat of sound engineering brilliance by the brothers themselves. From the intimacy of their cultivated space, Repair released their first full-length album Convenient Arrangements, striking a chord in the underground evenings of Germany’s electronic music scene. In 2007, Repair finished a record for Thoughtless Music, releasing their first digital only downloadable release: Still Standing Severley Damaged. 2008 brought a four track EP called Lines Drawn, a further distilment of an already sublime style. In 2010 came a return to the studio recording and mixing fresh tracks and ripe ideas. In 2011 Repair formed Obsolete Components—an independent record label devoted to the obscure sounds pulsing below the mainstream. In addition to their own recordings, Repair completed remixes for The Architect’s Upload Select Remix Album and Falko Brocksieper’s EP Alkem Nukem: an ambient album released with Israel’s False Industries record label. Repair’s upcoming release, Radio Talk, will evolve onto the market later in 2011, promising to flash Repair’s faster than sound evolution into the undercurrent of their fans’ unraveled evenings.