I gotta be honest, folks. I know it is still way early in the year, but I’m a bit more excited about Canadian indie rock than our own domestic output. Between the new Besnard Lakes track and an upcoming weekend visit from The Rural Alberta Advantage, I’ve found myself watching a lot more hockey (did you know there are only 6 Canadian franchises in the NHL and that only one is currently in the league’s top ten?) and putting maple syrup on everything. And now, thanks to this early track from Montreal-based Plants and Animals’ forthcoming LP, I’m about to go straight canuck, you bunch of hosers.
The track, delightfully named “Tom Cruz,” finds the band a little edgier than fans of 2008′s Parc Avenue might expect. The newfound affection for volume and heat, however, is a good thing, as “Tom Cruz” shows. With a taut bass line intro and a little more frustrated drumming, instrumentalists Nicolas Basque and Matthew Woodley set a perfect stage for frontman Warren Spicer’s appropriately pinched pitch to come in over. Eventually, it all comes together, with some added keyboards and guitars, to sound like an Arcade Fire jam mid-way through the track before backing off and simmering down through the outro.
La La Land, the sophomore release from Plants and Animals, drops via Secret City Records on April 20th. If the past is any guide, they’ll be all over the road between now and then.
