Sunparlour Players - Wave North

This was one of the first bands I discovered from CBC Radio 3 and I was really excited about it. Their single, "Battle of '77, " seemed like a strange enough tune to make for an interesting album. I also started hearing about their existence through the festival tour grapevine and on the internet, so I knew they were popular enough for me to dip into.



The album is pretty consistent with "Battle of '77," its grating vocals permeating throughout, and not much wandering away from the standard pop song structure. Over time, Andrew Penner's voice does become a bit too grating, either because his voice is at times too strained or because the words aren't particularly moving. Even "Battle of '77" has pretty literal lyrics as Penner asks "What was underneath the road? I guess no body knows. What was underneath the farms to make them fight, to bare their arms?" It feels like something important because the Players do the Arcade Fire thing with the guitar, piano and drums being somehow constantly building to the expected epic finale.

On tracks like "North" the songs can't rest on the virtues of momentum earned in "Battle," so it just kind of falls flat. I guess that's why the same structure is pretty much used the whole time, so songs like "Nuclear" can build enough to remain interesting despite the lyrics.