Album Review: Shane Pendergast, The House Before The Bridge

This album was recorded in three days in Shane Pendergast’s kitchen in Corran Ban, PEI, just across the bay from his childhood home of Tracadie Cross. This is his third album in as many years. Both of those factors could have resulted in an album that was a little loose, or a little raucous, maybe even a little ragged, but the album surprises in being tightly controlled. The legendary east coast fiddlers Gordie MacKeeman and Pascal Miousse have something to do with this as they emphasize the richness of Pendergast’s voice, as does the engineering and mixing by former Skydigger Aaron Comeau. 

The album is grounded on the intersection of history and current crises in Pendergast’s beloved PEI. The album can be stark–the haunting “Sheldrake Island”, about fifteen people dying on a leper colony off the coast; and there are places where the dread is well hidden—a song about how thick the seas were once with oysters, makes the listener realize how few they are now. These themes are made especially poignant by what will become an anthem, “The Future of Tradition”, which argues adroitly about his place in “traditional” folk music, and whether a thing like that can even exist. 

The slippery idea of tradition and geography deepens the last two albums. Pendergast’s patterns, complex and repeating, allow for a historically-minded understanding of his hometown, and a genuine anxiety about the future. 

The House Before The Bridge was released August 26, 2022.
Listen to it here.