Yellowknife (Nov 19/04) - Call it a panacea, perhaps, but Anodyne has released a CD.

North of Sexy is Travis Armour, Rick Maddeaux and Norbert Poitras' first recording together.

Armour describes Anodyne's sound as Great Big Sea meets Steve Earle meets Blue Rodeo. He says it's easier to say that than to try to explain what alt/country is.

That's what they described their sound as, but Armour said "people didn't get it."

Add that to the time Armour must spend explaining what the band's name means -- able to assuage pain, mentally soothing -- and it's no wonder Anodyne changed its tune.

Over the past few years, the band has moved from indie rock to a celtic/country/hard rock sound with a driving beat.

"One thing I noticed as we were recording the songs is that they're foot tapping tunes," said Armour.

With the recent addition of Chic Callas to the band's lineup, they also have fiddle and mandolin sounds to play with.

Most of the songs are Travis Armour originals, including one written for the family of Glenn Alexander, who died in a car crash in June. Armour has written around 600 songs.

The CD was recorded in Armour's house, and at the home of Steven Whittaker, who was the recording engineer on the project. The vocals were recorded in Whittaker's bathroom, beneath the glow of a red light bulb for a more relaxing ambience.

Anodyne recently performed a few shows in Fort Smith and hopes the CD will double as a marketing tool to get them more performances here in town.