CD Reviews
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Brigadoon
Mint Records
The busy, cartoonish cover art of Brigadoon says as much about P:ano's Mint Records debut as the songs themselves. Tightly packed within 54 minutes are 22 tracks that span the musical spectrum - moving effortlessly from boy-girl twee, to synth-based-electro, to more conventional indie pop. The dizzying array of instrumentation, including handclaps, accordions, strings, and horns, faithfully captures the quirky energy of their live shows. But what's eclecticism if it just means finding different ways to suck?
Fortunately, the band doesn't sacrifice quality for the sake of variety. Larissa Loyva's soaring vocals on songs like "Leave Me with the Boy" and "Pure Evil" humanise Nick Kryovich's sometimes aloof and overly-precious lyrics. "Storm the Gates" opens slowly and quietly, but eventually builds into a crashing crescendo with a synthy backbone. The bombastic "Ghost Pirate" is a nice try at a modern sea shanty, but the band works better on more melodic numbers like "You the Widow."
Despite a few stumbles along the way, P:ano has shown that they can deftly straddle the line between artistry and wankery. With another album like this they could easily become the next buzz-worthy band to break out of the Vancouver scene.
- Hanson Ho
X&Y
EMI
I once heard a rumour that Coldplay wanted to call their sophomore album Songs To Make Love To. It became A Rush of Blood to the Head, and the working title has long been forgotten. However, it should have been resurrected for their third offering, X&Y.
X&Y is supposed to represent mathematical variables - the unknowns in relationships between those of us with X chromosomes and those with a Y. The only unknown in this album is why the normally crisp vocals from lead man Chris Martin have been mixed low on certain tracks, resulting in some muddiness.
Otherwise, this is a solid effort from the British quartet. More than anything else, X&Y comes across as being much larger than the other albums. Sweeping orchestral arrangements back solid rock performances, while the lyrics from Martin are essentially acoustic panty remover. The press release says the lyrics are about "big subjects like life and death, love and loss." Too bad the press agent can't write as well as Coldplay, because even though every rock band in the last 50 years has been singing about these same four topics, Coldplay manages to make them seem new.
- Ryan Jones
Panic
SideOneDummy Records
The guys of MXPX recently released their eighth album, Panic, featuring 14 songs influenced by bands commonly on the Warped Tour lineup. Most tracks feature an upbeat tempo with lyrics addressing issues encountered while growing up. This series of youth anthems gives confused and stressed out listeners someone to relate to. A few, such as "Late Again," are reminiscent of Irish punk act Dropkick Murphys, while "Get Me Out" conveys a harder punk sound associated more with the likes of Pennywise. While easy to sing along to, having every song title in the chorus guarantees that most aren't very deep or symbolic; however they are enjoyable for what they are.
Panic features an enjoyable selection of punk songs worthy of the occasional listen, especially when you're in the mood to act a little immature or just jump around.
- Julie Rankin