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Boy
French Diplomacy EP
Bumstead - 2003
Michael Panontin
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Born and bred in the feral wilderness of the Yukon, wunderkind Stephen Kozmeniuk (a.k.a. Stephen Noel) wrote, recorded and produced the music on his debut outing Boy, from which most of this swell EP was culled. Working with one mic and ProTools software in bedrooms in Whitehorse and Edmonton, and bursting with the classic rock influences of his dad's album collection, Kozmeniuk issued Boy on his own Speedboatracer label, only to have it repressed for national distribution on the equally obscure Bumstead imprint.
"The record was only intended as a calling card," Kozmeniuk told Billboard magazine. "I had 500 copies pressed initially. I gave away 150 copies in promotion."
Kozmeniuk's musical career goes back to the age of 13, when the barely teenaged Yukoner started playing in a variety of punk, blues and soul bands around town. He credits that early experience with keeping him out of trouble. "Coming from such an isolated place, you play music because you have nothing else to do and so you can meet some girls or something," he told Calgary weekly FFWD. "In my high school, there wasn't many people I got on with. I had friends, but everyone was more interested in knocking over mailboxes and driving their pickup trucks. I chose the other route and started channelling my teenage angst into music."
The slimcase French Diplomacy EP was bravely released as the death knell was being rung for CD singles - and this despite the Canadian major labels' desperate, short-lived attempt to relaunch the format that year. The Beatlesque title cut, shortened somewhat from the LP version, is a lovely track, laden with lush orchestration and Sgt. Pepper phrasing, showing precocity even beyond Kozmeniuk's youthful 21 years. 'Joey', also from Boy, brews a potent Britpop infusion of infectious melodies and perky rhythms, while the longer 'Streetlight Vamp' at just over five minutes, veers off into a murkier, psychedelic mix before fading into some fetching slide and acoustic guitar. The bonus track is the quasi-autobiographical hidden track, where a (fictitious?) Burt Muston recounts the musical (mis)adventures of a Yukon 'boy' atop a minimally ambient soundtrack.
A follow-up long-player, 2004's more mainstream Brennan McGuire-produced Every Page You Turn, also died an equally lonely death on the store shelves. That likely hardly matters to Kozmeniuk these days, as the talented musician has since relocated to Toronto, reinvented himself as producer, songwriter, engineer and instrumentalist Koz, and scored hits for the likes of Madonna, Nikki Minaj, Dua Lipa and many others. Now that's impressive.
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Suggestions
The Blue Shadows
On the Floor of Heaven
Bumstead
Joe Keithley
I, Shithead
Arsenal Press
The Constantines
Nighttime Anytime EP
Subpop
Stars
Heart
Paper Bag (CAN), Arts & Crafts (USA), Setanta (UK)
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