Secret & Whisper

Canada | Post-Hardcore

RIP 2007-2011 [HIATUS]

Why you need to know them…

• Killer, original male vocals
• Were too short-lived to have gained greater recognition
• Tolerable and likable even to those who don’t listen to hardcore music
• A phenomenal debut album

 

Members

• Charles Finn
• David Ecker
• Jason Ciolli
• Ryan Loerke
• Jordan Chase

 

Who doesn’t love a good story told in a song? Now – how about a heavier rock-sounding story?

Signed to Christian record label Tooth & Nail Records in 2007, Secret & Whisper may have been short-lived in nature, but that does not discount the quality of their music by any means. On a hiatus with no definite return, they are worth a listen if you dig hardcore, post-hardcore, metal or any other sort of hard rock music. However, not being a listener of super heavy music myself, even I dug these guys and was sad to find out that they were no longer active. Or at least haven’t been for the past 6 years or so.

What makes Secret & Whisper stand out, in my opinion, is the type of vocals found throughout the music – a sort of high-pitched male yell sort of singing. It is desirable despite it’s rawness and not every post-hardcore voice can be said the same of. Some are whiney, some are rougher than others, yet Charles’ lead vocals shine in practically every song as he belts the lyrics out passionately. The music itself is also awesome and very powerful, aggressive yet soft enough at times for a story to ring out above all of the noise.

They had a no-nonsense approach to their music, not paying attention to musical trends, but rather, sought to retain their musical integrity by making music that they found appealing, not just a one-off song type of approach like many younger bands today. Many bands seek to at least make their 15 minutes of fame whether by one song or two, but Secret & Whisper’s mentality was to create an album masterpiece of dynamics and storytelling, with softer songs mixed in with the heavier ones. Whether that methodology helped or hurt them, who knows, but their second album Teenage Fantasy did not appear to be as successful as their debut The Great White Whale, an album praised by Revolver Magazine and Absolutepunk.net. [1]

Great White Whale, their masterpiece from 2008, still remains one of my go-tos for melodic, heavy music thanks to it’s fantastic tracks Vanishings, XOXOXO, and Spider Besider. Probably inspired by the likes of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, the journey through a musical fantasy world is brought to life by melodic, metal-like guitar riffs and double bass drum beats at it’s helm, while the thickening forest of fantasy is kept up by the various wonderfully written lyrics strewn about by lead singer Christian, who somehow never tires his lungs out. The storytelling is brilliant, from a song about an Asian woman who changed her name to fit in (Spider Besider) to a tale of loneliness that leads to the narrator abducting a whale to cure his loneliness, only to face an animal uprising  (Great White Whale) [2]. Yeah. It gets intense. Haha

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“…the journey through a musical fantasy world is brought to life by melodic, metal-like guitar riffs and double bass drum beats at it’s helm, while the thickening forest of fantasy is kept up by the various, wonderfully written lyrics strewn about by lead singer Christian…”

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Their sophomore release Teenage Fantasy may not have been as well received as Great White Whale, but it still contains the elements of the previous record along with a few added goodies, like added background ambience and more complex and epic guitar scales, for instance. The one-minute intermezzo Pretty Snarl even has a xylophone part in it, for gosh sakes, a more random act for them 3/4 of the way through the album. The title of the album was taken from the thought of the members growing older, not attaining their dream of becoming rockstars, of seeing a declining music industry in some aspects and not being able to pay rent despite all their hard work touring. It’s a heavy meaning for a title of an album, but hey, they were being transparent with audiences, and that’s probably the most attractive thing to find in an artist nowadays.

With the band members strewn about in different bands (Shreddy Krueger/Scissorkick), it sure is good to know that the members haven’t given up on making music. In July of this year, they posted a photo of members hanging out on their Facebook, leaving fans with a question mark of a return, which isn’t completely out of the question, per their hiatus statement back in 2011. YAY??? [3]

 

References
[1] Tooth & Nail Records
[2] Songmeanings.com
[2] Facebook

If You Like…
Emery
As Cities Burn

Listen To
Spider Besider
Vanishings