OUT NOW:
Wolf Parade
Apologies to the Queen Mary
(Sub Pop)
Montreal is the root of all that’s good in music today, or so we’re told. Exaggeration it may be, but there’s certainly some truth in it, with the Arcade Fire, The Dears and The Stills all hailing from the fair Canadian city. And now we have the rather good Wolf Parade adding to the mix. Indeed, Apologies to the Queen Mary could almost BE the Arcade Fire with David Bowie guesting on vocals. With jagged guitars, stomping drums and ragged vocals, its unrelenting, strangulated passion makes it easy to see why Wolf Parade really could be Canada’s next big thing.
Merz
Loveheart
(Gronland)
Back in 1999, Conrad Lambert, aka Merz, released his debut album on Sony Records, receiving critical acclaim and considerable media exposure. Then he suddenly sank without trace, walking away from his record deal and holing up in a small flat in Yorkshire to sign on to the dole. Eventually Lambert found himself working on new material, which would become the ten songs to make up Loveheart. It’s a record of haunting beauty that gets better with each listen, brimming full of confessional songs about isolation, infatuation, despair and broken dreams.
COMING SOON:
Aidan Smith
Fancy Barrel
(Analogue Catalogue)
You’ve got to love a guy whose songs include titles such as ‘Everytime I Lean I Fall Asleep’ and ‘Jam will Suffice’. Aidan Smith’s debut album Fancy Barrel opens with glorious breezy abandon and continues with quirky, engaging piano and guitar songs, embellished with brass, wind and percussion, all to fabulous effect. From the debatably un-glamourous town of Eccles, Aidan Smith’s song-writing sensibilities exhibit overtones of Randy Newman, Rufus Wainwright and Sergeant Pepper-era Beatles, not to mention Elliott Smith, who he shares more than just a surname with. Fancy Barrel is as endearing an album as you’ll find this year.
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