Although one would expect either a Dutch or Dutch speaking Belgian band here, Huis is really a Montreal based Canadian band...but they dó have a thing about the Netherlands (more commonly known as Holland), though!
You may notice that these guys are from the (more) French speaking parts of Canada, and it's somewhat weird that the band stresses that “huis” can mean “home doors” in French, and “house” in Dutch...without mentioning which actually relates to their name. Well, whatever...eve weirder is how the band eventually got formed! You see, the roots of the band go back for about a decade, when teachers Michel Joncas and Pascal Lapierre first met each other, and discovered that they had a common taste in music...more specifically, in Progressive Rock. One band they really got into, was Dutch act Knight Area (whom released their debut album in 2004).
The duo also played music, just down in the basement, and without any aspirations whatsoever of ever doing anything serious with it. As it happens, they eventually played a show at school, just for fun, but someone in the audience was so clever to record, at least, as far as I know, in part. That same person then put a cover of the Knight Area song “The Sun Also Rises” on YouTube, where KA founder (he started the band as a solo project, really), keyboardist Gerben Klazinga, came across it. He immediately made contact with the duo over the internet, and from that friendships fermented. The musicians eventually met each other for the first time at a Montreal Prog festival in 2008. Soon after, KA went into the studio to record their third album, 2009's Realm Of Shadows, and Klazinga invited the duo to come over to Holland to come and play as guests on the aforementioned song during the album's release party in late September of that year. Completely unaware, the duo buys plane tickets for a short holiday in Holland, because of course after the release shows follows some exploration of Holland in general and Amsterdam in particular.
Completely overwhelmed, the duo returns home and feels so inspired by their trip to Holland, that they decide to use what they saw on their trip as building stones for the lyrical part of their own music, which they started putting on tape (say, hard-disk), with very Dutch sounding titles such as “Oude Kerk 1” and “Oude Kerk 2” (dealing with the Westerkerk and the church on the walletjes – really, there's no good translation for that particular part of Amsterdam), and using rather very Dutch topics too (“Little Anne” is about Anne Frank, “Lights And Bridges” is about the illumination of the Amsterdam bridges, and “Beyond The Amstel” is about a certain part of the town. The trip also changed the duo's outlook on their music, and the guys were now starting to look out for other musicians to turn their basement project into a real band. And so, over time, Joncas (bass & keyboards) and Lapierre (keyboards) were joined by singer Sylvain Descôteaux, drummer William Régnier, and guitarist Michel St-Père (also known from Mystery).
Expect a Progressive Rock with great emphasis on the keyboards (Hammond, Moog, Mellotron) , but with also very nice guitar (both rhythmic and in leads/ solos), expect changing moods, with calmer passages alternating more energetic ones. On top, expect very nice clean melodic vocals as well. Compare to...ahh...Knight Area, really, and also '80s Marillion and Yes (obviously with a different singer) and, ultimately, with The Alan Parsons Project! To get an better idea of what it sounds like, check some of the music/ videos posted at (www.) huisband.com. Enjoy!