CREDIT: KIRSTEN BERLIE
We Are The City recently played a show at the London Music Hall in support of new release PXTK.

I write about random things a lot. I write a lot about random things. In the music industry, marketing is often a sink-or-swim environment. Freelance publicists and major label marketers routinely face the same challenge: how do you get people to take a chance on new music?

It may go without saying that record labels and their artists work hard to squeeze marketing opportunities out of every dollar spent on promotion, with trends in recent years placing an emphasis on live events. It's sensible, if you think about it — as music sales drop and less demand is placed on physical albums, the challenge of marketing music has risen to overshadow the music itself.

As an example: record labels and artists participating in Record Store Day — the single biggest vinyl sale day each year, observed in countries around the globe — have to have provide all “value added” items like sampler CDs, postcards and loot bag inserts to organizers even before the very vinyl albums they're preparing for the occasion. Organizers need a greater lead time to coordinate the free items than the vinyl releases themselves.

It isn't enough to engage listeners on social media anymore, so the challenge becomes to find new ways of making original content compelling for listeners. And when that compelling original content comes along, the means by which it's broadcasted can make all the difference as to whether we pay attention to it or not.

Hailing from Vancouver, We Are The City is a three-piece rock outfit with little comparison; composed of Cayne McKenzie on keyboards and vocals, David Menzel on guitar and Andrew Huculiak on drums, the band wields the tools of the traditional rock trio but carves a sound out all their own. Over the course of a few recordings, their blend of abstract prog rhythms and vocal pop phrasing place them somewhere between indie pop, alternative rock and progressive jazz.

The band recently performed at the London Music Hall supporting hometown hip-hop artist Shad — also celebrating a new release in Flying Colours, released only a month prior — before crossing the border for dates in Chicago and Minneapolis on their way out to western Canada.

PXTK clearly demonstrates that We Are The City is strongest performing live. Recorded at a headlining gig at the Kelowna Community Centre this summer, the EP features selections from the group's second album Violent, itself released only this June. In contrast to the recent full-length release, PXTK gains a note of immediacy from shedding the studio sheen and rises above to capture an electric and compelling experience.

Released with the EP on October 29, the video for “King David” — the opening track on the record — captures the trio deep in their personal space, filmed up close by surveillance cameras operated by the band as they performed. A strong choice to kick off the series, the video calls to attention not only the grainy, abstract visuals culminated from the stage, but also the crisp post-production effort that went into making PXTK sound so good.

Week after week, the series continued in sequence with the EP — next is “Friends Hurt,” which opens with a much quieter dynamic as the rhythm builds into a gritty crescendo before beginning again. The band is clearly as unafraid to get quiet and tender as they are to shift gears again for “Bottom Of The Lake” and for “Legs Give Out” soon after.

Compared to the Violent sessions, the music on PXTK feels more animated — Menzel's guitar tone is hotter here on stage, like a live wire. That added warmth marries it all the better to McKenzie's keys and Huculiak's drums, effectively tightening the band while giving them the appearance of more space musically. Happily met, We Are The City is another rock trio that well creates music on as grand a scale as a unit with double their numbers.

The PXTK series comes to an end this week on November 26 as the band release “Baptism,” the fifth and final video from the EP.

For more on We Are The City or to see the PXTK videos, visit wearethecity.ca or follow along on Twitter @wearethecity. Only released in June, their second full-length album Violent is available in stores and among your preferred digital services like iTunes or Rdio. The new PXTK EP is available for free download on their website or profile on Bandcamp.

And for more of the latest music news, show previews and occasionally even music downloads, consider following this column on Twitter @fsu_bobbyisms. Don't forget that Record Store Day Black Friday returns this week — head to recordstoredaycanada.com for details on releases and which independent shops here in London are participating. I'm out of words.