The Fishwives – No Time for Swordplay (Badd Brothers)
Despite a professed weakness for the uncomplicated riffs of the Shins and the White Stripes, Toronto quarter The Fishwives’ jaunty pop-rock has a sound that’s entirely its own. Combining euphoric melodies and driving rhythms, the band exhibits lyrical and musical maturity that’s surprising given the members’ young age.
Most of the Fishwives are multi-instrumentalists, so the members constantly switch roles and vocals duty from track to track, lending versatility to the band’s sound.
Opening track “Rum and Band-Aids” features a jumpy, organ-inspired keyboard line and frenzied guitar, while top MySpace hit “Before It Spreads” includes a manic drum passage and soaring vocal hooks. The band is also capable of more lilting melodies on tracks such as “Clearly Dear” and “Shrug,” which builds steadily to a distorted climax before sliding into a soft sequence of piano chords.
Even on “Disarmed,” an acknowledged “joke song,” the band manages to be funny without resorting to gimmickry. Plus, the track’s infectious bass lines and guitar-shredding interludes help it to blend in inconspicuously with the rest of the album. It’s an impressive first effort, so this burgeoning band is one to watch.
—Niamh Fitzgerald
Lady Sovereign – Jigsaw (Midget)
The latest salvo shot from the mouth of Lady Sovereign is a boisterous blend of popping attitude and droll British humour. It’s exactly what we’ve come to expect from the diminutive grime diva, though Jigsaw isn’t without its occasional misfires.
Sov’s unapologetic, take-no-prisoners temperament is as evident in the album’s feisty beats as it is in her savvy, self-aware lyrics. As she admits on “I Got You Dancing,” “Think twice before I break-dance / I might fall on my arse and break my arms / Give my white girl skank a chance / I don’t cha-cha or dance with the stars.” Sov’s sampling of The Cure’s “Close To Me” on the track “So Human,” however, is unexpected and feels inconsistent with the rest of the album.
The big surprise on Jigsaw is Lady Sovereign’s newfound emotional sincerity. Listeners get a rare treat on the title track as Sov sings bittersweetly about lost love. It’s great to get rare a glimpse of Sov’s soft side. In the context of the album, it provides a little breathing room, like an intimate conversation held in the corner of a rowdy party. While poignant and private, Sov’s reflections don’t interrupt the good times for too long.
As such, Jigsaw lives up to its title: the pieces don’t always fit together, but the process of trying out new combinations is what makes the game fun.
—Rae Matthews
Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms (Secret City)
Québec native Patrick Watson offers an eclectic collection on his latest record, but it’s not as eclectic as one might hope.
Watson’s lovely voice wafts its way through songs both wistful and whimsical, soft and hard, intense yet full of dreamlike airiness. His musical arrangements vary, with biting, throbbing percussion weaving into delicate harp melodies. Watson begins with a gentle lightness, only to turn up the dark and bitter, then back again, feeling like a soothing massage that suddenly hits a sensitive, deeply buried nerve.
The title track wanders into a Venetian vaudeville act à la Tom Waits while drifting through a Claude Lelouch montage. Other songs seem to belong everywhere from European circus sideshows to Wiccan yoga classes.
Yet for all his floating around, the album never quite escapes its Nick Drake-meets-Final Fantasy disposition of soulful folk reaching for playful profundity. The songs are at heart simple, sometimes even naïve, and don’t really require Watson’s experimental dressing-up. In the end, they all sound pretty much the same, despite occasional adornments. It’s a very pretty album overall, but only if you can manage to stay awake throughout.
—RM
