C.D. Singles Club #65 – The Rural Alberta Advantage – Don’t Haunt This Place

If there is a record I feel most sheepish about not covering on these pages in 2009, it is The Rural Alberta Advantage’s brilliantly pastoral Hometowns.  OK, I’ll throw Merriweather Post Pavilion on there, too, but I feel way worse about Hometowns because I liked it way more.

As good as it is, and it is so good the word should have two syllables, it is a difficult album to describe. You can say it sounds Canadian, which it does even if that isn’t a terribly profound or illuminating description. You can say it is about sense memory and place, both broadly construed and with respect to Alberta, the province from which the band gets not only its name but also its frontman, Nils Edenloff. But when you try to describe its sound, you eventually get bogged down between saying it is kinda dance-oriented, only it isn’t.

I brought this up to Edenloff in an interview I did with him last week (check it out if you like here), mentioning I could burn a few songs for a friend and have them swear The Rural Alberta Advantage was a dance-pop band, and then turn around and burn a few more for a different person and have them swear they were a straight-up rock band. From his response, it seems clear that this sonic diversity isn’t accidental and has a lot to do with the different musical interests and perspectives of the band’s three members.

In light of that, I decided to bring you the two tracks that would anchor those respective hypothetical burned CDs mentioned in the paragraph above. For those that like to dance, you’ll likely dig on “Don’t Haunt This Place,” arguably the band’s biggest hit since making their huge splash at SXSW last spring. The rest of you who are a little more like me will fall in love with “Frank, AB” – the second single from Hometowns. And, finally, those of you who listen to both tracks will quickly realize I’ve set up a bit of a false dichotomy. In reality, the band’s sound exists on a contiuum; these two tracks just reside at different ends. You can dance to “Frank, AB” and rock out to “Don’t Haunt This Place.”

In fact, those of you residing in Citizen Dick Country will be pleased to note that the band’s ongoing tour itinerary brings them through Cleveland this Sunday, January 17th, for a show at the incomparable Beachland Tavern with New York City’s The Octagon. See the John G designed gig poster below for more information.

The Rural Alberta Advantage – Don’t Haunt This Place

The Rural Alberta Advantage – Frank, AB