Labels: ANTI-
Review by: MH
I’d best start by admitting that I have more than a soft spot for the Weakerthans so I may not be best placed for writing an objective review here. They have written many of my favourite songs and I have their records on regular rotation at home. This is the first solo album that frontman John K. Samson has released and is a mixture of new songs and re-recorded songs that he has previously put out on EPs. I was going to do my best to try to avoid mentioning his band but this, naturally, sounds very much like them “” hard to avoid with his distinctive voice and lyrical style.
Ex-Collective Zine hack, Frank Turner, was invited to do the press release that accompanies the promo and spills his heart about his respect for the man and his music. If you like the Weakerthans this is very likely to appeal to you. The songs are generally more sparse in terms of instrumentation but most would fit comfortably on a Weakerthans album. There is a typically unusual opening song followed by what for me is the standout track, “Heart of the Continent”, which has a finger picking style reminiscent of “One Great City!”. A number of the songs are up there with some of his best work. “The Last And”, although not a new song, is, for me, one of the best songs he has written. It tells the tale of a teacher and a failed relationship with one of the other teachers – “I remember how you made me feel / I was thoughtful, I was funny, I was rare, I know I’m just your little ampersand.”
There is a lyrical theme throughout this album and that is travel on the roads of Manitoba. Although there are no songs written from the perspective of a cat, the unusual topics of his songwriting are in force throughout “” wistful on the whole, much of it about trips and characters on those roads and even one song where he is singing a petition to have a forgotten local hockey player listed into the hall of fame “” its almost indoctrinational-style chant is quite hypnotic. The URL for that petition is the title of the song and he sings the transcript word for word.
There is certainly a more downbeat feel to the album as a whole and it only really gets upbeat and rocking on 2 songs “” “When I Write My Master’s Thesis” and “Longitudinal Centre”. One slight departure is the closing track “Taps Reversed” which is piano-based and features his wife. There are others playing on the album but there was no info as to who they are with the promo or press release.
This is unlikely to draw you in if you don’t like his band but if you do like the Weakerthans (and you should really), you’ll like this. One very minor gripe is that so many of the songs have been released before but this is a lovely record.