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Zouch Magazine Interview – September 2011 – Sara Harowitz It’s pretty safe to say that your first album is a success when the worst review you get states that your CD would be good to bring home to a girlfriend. And for Vancouver’s folk duo The Reckoners, that’s exactly what happened. “I think we had tons and tons of really great reviews and I think we only had one that wasn’t that awesome, from Edmonton,” says Christina Simpson, one half of The Reckoners, about their first album …And The Sky Opened Up. “And the guy said, like, ‘Yeah if you need a good CD to bring home to your girlfriend it’ll be ok,’ or something.” Simpson and musical partner Ricardo Khayatte both let out a laugh. If that’s as bad as it gets, I think to...

“The end result is both “indie” and modern yet undeniably “retro”; a vibe that has bestowed the Reckoners with a well-deserved “next big Canadian folk thing” tag in the press.” - BY FRANCOIS MARCHAND, VANCOUVER SUN

“Finally, I have to make a few special mentions for some of the best EPs of the year, which make me look forward to full-lengths in 2011 (I hope!): TEEN DAZE, Four More Years BABE RAINBOW, Shaved THE RECKONERS, And the Sky Opened Up HUMANS, Avec Mes Mecs” - BY FRANCOIS MARCHAND, VANCOUVER SUN

The story of Vancouver’s The Reckoners, Christina Simpson and Ricardo Khayatte, is a love story. The two met during a retreat a few years back and it was love at first sight. …And the Sky Opened Up, the duo’s debut, is love at first listen. The duo’s vocal interplay is spellbinding and the folk/country melodies feel breezy and effortless, bouyed by road-weary wisdom and propelled by the strength of the pair’s bond. This may only be a six-song offering, but listen to the shuffle-y Heartbreaker or the back porch worthy The Wanderer and you will hear a true, stripped-down gem hinting at a very bright future. - Francois Marchand, Vancouver Sun

A variation on the Black Cab Sessions, for which an act climbs into the back of a taxi and performs while the vehicle drives around London, Vancouver’s Green Couch Sessions feature an act sitting on said piece of furniture and singing one song, in one take. This preview of the follow-up to this duo’s . . . And the Sky Opened Up EP features no more than a guitar, an accordion, and the perfectly matched voices of Christina Simpson and Ricardo Khayatte. It needs nothing else. - John Sakamoto, Toronto Star

There must be something in the BC air that spawns sweet vocal harmonies. To the likes of harmony-driven groups like the Blue Shadows and the Be Good Tanyas, you can now add the Reckoners. Based on this debut six-song EP, the Vancouver, BC-based folk duo have the potential to take a place alongside those greats. Featuring Berklee graduate and TV composer Ricardo Khayatte and Christina Simpson, their voices fuse together so well it’s hard to imagine they’ve only been singing together for two years. The songs ? all written by Khayatte ? are nicely fleshed out with bass, drums, lap steel and guitar. They’re all on the gently contemplative side, and the imaginative lyrics of a number like “Eye For An Eye” (“I wish I was raised by...

The backstory of Vancouver based indie folk-pop duo The Reckoners reads a bit like a fairy tale. Ricardo Khayatte (vocals, guitar) and Christina Simpson (vocals) met at a cabin in the woods when invited out by a mutual friend for a ski weekend. The two hit it off and this EP is the fruit of that fateful meeting. From the moment you hear Eye for an Eye one is immediately willingly enslaved by the plaintive beauty of these two voices. Whether it’s the stark mournfulness of the carefully crafted balladSomethings, the catchy loping melody and honesty of Too Tough to Love, Timothy Tweedale’s haunting lap steel guitar on the country leaning Heartbreaker or the animated banjo-like guitar that propels The Wanderer, the exceptional musicianship and...

Lately I’ve been gravitating to a lot of male/female collaborations, mostly of the roots/country variety, and one of the best pairs I’ve come across is Christina Simpson and Ricardo Khayatte, who collectively are The Reckoners. A quick read-through of their one sheet tells you the pair met “in a log cabin in the woods” on a group ski weekend trip. I swear, when you hear these two sing together, you’ll swear that trip was organized by destiny. Delicate interwoven melodies create the perfect backdrop for their voices, and together the whole concoction is intoxicating. Khayatte is a smooth blend of Jeff Tweedy and Ryan Adams, while Simpson sweet counterpoint oddly reminds me of a cross between Jacqui Abbott (ex of The Beautiful South) and Sarah...

It’s hard to believe that someone who creates songs as instantly memorable as this alt-country ballad doesn’t already have a deep catalogue of recorded material, but writer Ricardo Khayatte and singer Christina Simpson, both based in Vancouver, have only just released their debut EP. The most relevant antecedent here is Ryan Adams, specifically the Adams who penned early tracks such as “16 Days” and “Desperate Ain’t Lonely” for his old (and still mourned) band, Whiskeytown. This is as good as those. - John Sakamoto, Toronto Star

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The Reckoners, a folk/country duo from Vancouver are not trying to bowl you over with a huge arrangement of instruments- and that’s the best thing about their debut EP, …And the Sky Opened Up. This is probably one of the most enchanting listens I’ve experienced in a while. The duo, Christina Simpson and Ricardo Khayatte have the most wonderful chemistry. You can almost get the feeling that the two are lovers that have experienced the all the ways of the world. Both contribute flawless, breathy vocals (often together) and the only audible instruments are very gentle drums (almost sounding like taps) and very pleasant, soft acoustic guitar chords. The songs generally deal with love and traveling the road, with many songs featuring both these themes. With...

I was recently on the bus and overheard a man speaking with some tourists about our province. Here’s what he said: “BC’s the most beautiful place in the world. Lotta beautiful Chinese girls, lotta beautiful white girls. Girl are beautiful to look at. There are more girls than guys in BC, about four to one. I’m not complaining!” I’d like to see his sources on those statistics. Here are the Reckoners from Vancouver, who are probably much better ambassadors for our province than that guy and his questionable anthropological research. If you’re into countrified vocal harmonies and wistful dirt road folk, check out the new EP …And the Sky Opened Up. Here’s the opening track, “Eye for an...