In just two years together as a band, Toronto-based roots rockers The Warped 45s have been moving at warp speed creatively, rapidly turning heads and opening ears with their stylistically freewheeling and compelling sound. Their self-titled 2008 independent six-song EP scored unanimous rave reviews, garnered strong college radio airplay across both Canada and the U.S., and had such publications as Exclaim! and Toronto’s EYE Weekly citing them as “Destined for Greatness in 2009.”

Those predictions are being emphatically fulfilled this year, as evidenced by the $10,000 cash prize they took home in June by winning the Rogers Fan Choice Award for a triumphant performance at the North By Northeast Festival. The next step in their meteoric ascent is the September 1st release of 10 Day Poem For Saskatchewan. Out on the Pheromone Recordings label and distributed by Fontana North, this debut full-length album is a work of genuinely epic proportions.

Pigeonholing The Warped 45s sound is a slippery task best not attempted. As points of reference, consider the artists the band cite as musical touchstones – Wilco, The Band, Blue Rodeo, Steve Earle, Tom Waits – all of whom defy stylistic straitjackets. The Warped 45s incorporate country, gospel, folk and rock elements with seamless grace.

This is a band with a formidable arsenal of musical weapons, as they feature four vocalists, two songwriters, and multiple multi-instrumentalists (how many groups do you know that include three banjo players?). To further expand the widescreen sound of 10 Day Poem For Saskatchewan, they recruited such talented friends as Romney Getty and Annelise Noronha (backing vocals), J.P.Desaulniers and Alex Cheung (violin), Craig Smith (dobro), Andrew Penner of Sunparlour Players (lap steel) and award winning jazz trumpeter Brownman.