Eight and a Half

Eight and a Half

Eight and a Half is a Toronto, Canada-based group formed in 2011 by Justin Peroff of Broken Social Scene and Dave Hamelin and Liam O’Neil of The Stills. The trio comes together from two established Canadian bands and builds a project that moves away from the larger-scale sound of their main groups.

Background and formation

Peroff has been the drummer in Broken Social Scene since 2000 and also works outside music as an actor, DJ and party promoter. Before this project, he does not release music outside the Broken Social Scene name. Hamelin and O’Neil are long-time friends of Peroff, and Broken Social Scene and The Stills share stages as early as 2003. The three members start developing Eight and a Half through phone calls and emails while they are based in different cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Montreal, before all three settle in Toronto by the end of 2010.

The project grows from an occasional recording idea into a full band after Broken Social Scene completes its Forgiveness Rock Record tour, The Stills break up after their 2008 album Oceans Will Rise, and O’Neil works as an engineer at Metric’s Giant Studios in Toronto. Hamelin also relocates to the city after his girlfriend takes a new job there.

Sound and musical approach

Eight and a Half develops a more electronically focused style than the members’ main bands. Peroff’s drumming is reworked through electronic programming and looped breaks as well as live playing. O’Neil, who is usually known as a piano and horn player, uses synthesizers and samplers to create unusual textures and atmosphere. Hamelin sings in a higher register than before and writes in a more confessional, exposed style to suit the stripped-back production.

The group’s music includes elements associated with indie, slowcore, electronic and synthpop.

Key songs and themes

The songs mentioned include “Scissors”, “Go Ego” and “The Turn Around”, which reflect themes of melancholy, self-examination and starting again. Other tracks noted for the way the album opens out in tone and scale are “A Train to India”, “Two Points” and “Oh, My Head”.

Eight and a Half presents itself as a full band rather than a side project, with its members using it to explore a more minimal and mechanised sound than the music they are known for elsewhere.