Quick & Dirty: Polyester Heart - by Larissa Primeau - Polyester Heart is about as barebones as it gets. The band consists of just two dudes: Marshall Bureau on drums/percussion and Dave Marcotte on guitar/vocals. The concept of putting together such a minimalist band was kind of unintentional. Dave Marcotte explains, "Marshall and I were playing in another band (Interrupted by Rhinos), up until about a year ago and I thought about getting back to focusing on the solo/acoustic stuff I had been doing previously to that. I had a rough idea of what I wanted. I started writing more and when the concept started evolving I talked to Marshall and asked if he wanted to play on a couple of these and he said 'Sure.' So I went to his place a couple of times and we just rehearsed a couple of these songs. I kind of intended at first that maybe he would sort of just help out and all of the sudden the sound of it emerged and it was like right there! So then we realized that we were going to do this-like this. I mean like a duo with just acoustic guitar and drums." This was a smart decision, as Polyester Heart is the kind of music that just doesn't require anything else. Both talented, long-time musicians, Marshall and Dave have created something beautiful and complex by simply bringing it down to the basics. In a world of over-produced, Mac-generated music, this approach is both refreshing and appealing. While not at all boring, it's the kind of music you can play for your Grandma and your Avril-loving, 13-year-old niece; it's just easily, comfortably appealing. Marcotte explains how and why he downsized. "The reason I wanted to do the stripped back thing was because it was what I felt most comfortable doing and what I got the most response to. At first we thought we should get a bass player, add some keys but that first afternoon we got together, we realized that we didn't need that stuff. We adopted this whole 'less is more' mantra and went from there." It's interesting to see how good music comes about but it's even better to see the results. In this case, the result is a delicious taste of quality music that requires no more seasoning. Polyester Heart has an EP available (Sweet Dreams and Panic) and plan on doing a small, low-budget tour of Canada. It certainly wouldn't be expensive to tour a guitarist and drummer! Do it on a donkey, boys. They've also applied to get into NXNE and (fingers crossed) they'll get in. When they do (I'm optimistic about this band), be sure to throw your support behind this two-piece Canadian act and check out their video, "For Better or for Worse." It was an attempt by Marcotte's girlfriend at making one of the roughest videos ever, might I say, mission accomplished! Well done. It's always nice to see people achieve what they have set out to do. For a free glance at some Polyester Heart music, go to http://radio3.cbc.ca/.