Illustration from The Jumble Book: a Jumble of Good Things by David Cory,1920
The evolution of the Hidden Cameras, Canada's premiere gay church cabaret group, has been a strange one. The group has always primarily served as a vehicle for the voice and messages of Joel Gibb, and the group's early releases, Ecce Homo and The Smell of Our Own, were all about sex and gay politics. The heavy messages were lightened, however, by the fizzy pop arrangements and humor that the subjects were treated with. As time has passed, the sound stayed the same, but the messages have changed. The band's third album, Mississauga Goddam, focused on the roles of music and religious iconography, while their fourth, and most recent album, 2006's Awoo, took things further. It's a weird album with a lighthearted overall tone that belies the record's morbid and often death-centered lyrics. Since 2006, the Hidden Cameras haven't released any new music - most recently, they have been playing blindfolded shows in Europe, backed by a 12-voice zombie choir.
One of the Awoo's bright spots for me is "Fee Fie". Every Hidden Cameras record has one or two songs that are simple hymn-like songs, and they make the most of Joel Gibb's clear bell of a voice. The arrangement is primarily composed of strings and electric guitar, with a little triangle *ting* at the end of each verse. This little punctuation is the key to the song's appeal for me, together with Gibb's vibrato and the little cymbal swells before the chorus. When this song came up on the Probabilistic Jukebox, it made me realize that I haven't listened to Awoo since 2006, so I grabbed the album off the shelf to see how it's held up. Surprisingly, it's better than I remember - I hope that the Hidden Cameras come back from Europe and start recording again soon.
"Fee Fie" by the Hidden Cameras
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