BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition - February 2020

MUSiC ALBUM REVIEWS
CHRISTIAN WEBER
CINDY LEE
What’s Tonight
to Eternity
W.25TH/Superior Viaduct
Cindy Lee’s journey to the
deepest depths of beauty
continues on What’s Tonight
to Eternity.
Eclipsed only by 2015’s
shattering Act of Tenderness,
What’s Tonight continues to
refine songwriter Patrick Flegel’s
explorations in harsh noise,
oldies pop, guitar witchery and
recording experimentation.
The album’s most breathtaking
moments can be found on
“I Want You to Suffer”. In seven
and a half minutes, the song
exquisitely encapsulates all that
Cindy Lee has shown us since
2012’s Tatlashea and solidifies
the fact that Flegel is one of
this generation’s most gifted,
smartest and exciting artists.
Best Track: I Want You To Suffer
John Divney
MAC MILLER
Circles
Warner
Quite a few recent posthumous releases
have been handled haphazardly,
often forgoing artistic integrity
in favour of name recognition.
Mac Miller’s final album Circles
is far from one of those releases.
Nearly finished by the time of his
passing and lovingly completed by
legendary producer Jon Brion, it’s
clear just how much Circles was
meant to be a companion piece
- “swimming in circles” being the
ultimate takeaway.
Circles mostly touches on the
same topics of isolation, heartbreak,
depression and unhealthy
coping mechanisms, but this time
with a much-needed injection of
hope that he could beat it and
come out thriving on the other side
– which only makes it all the more
heartbreaking.
Miller was one to push himself
further out of his musical comfort
zone with every release - he barely
raps on this project. Instead, his
jazzy, mumbling singing voice is
applied to soft and dreamy reverberating
tones that verge on 70s
psychedelic rock. He even covers
a 1972 hit from Arthur Lee, which,
chillingly, centers on accepting
one’s eventual death and living in
the moment.
Miller notes that he spends a lot
of time in his head on the lead single,
“Good News,” and most of this
plays out like Miller acknowledging
the critical inner monologues we
all have, wondering if we’re on the
right path. It’s a shame we never
got to see where he was going.
Best Track: Blue World
Ben Boddez
SARAH HARMER
Are You Gone
Arts & Crafts
If it took a decade for anger to
morph into the exquisite, love to
become a roar, and evocation
to magnify, then Sarah Harmer’s
new album, Are You Gone, has
been worth the wait.
Exploring climate change,
loss, and love through folksy
indie rock ballads, Harmer
wields her intricately dynamic
voice with restraint, such as
on “St. Peter’s Bay” and “The
Lookout,” while “New Low”
and “Take Me Out” punch up the
pace.
Harmer guides us with
grace and a gentle kick in the
gut. Are You Gone is a tender
warning that we aren’t—yet—and
reminds us that the pursuit of art
remedies nihilism.
Best Track: Wildlife
Dayna Mahannah
TENNIS
Swimmer
Mutually Detrimental
The husband-and-wife duo Tennis’
Swimmer is an ode to their pictureperfect
relationship and standing
strong together in the face of tragedy.
Full of starry-eyed declarations
of admiration for her husband,
frontwoman Alaina Moore sings of how
she’d be completely lost if not for his
support. She even jokes that they’re
so eternally intertwined that she’ll likely
end up haunting him as a ghost.
Tennis has always sounded directly
out of another time with their replication
of the glossy sheen of 70s pop, but they
play around with experimental rhythmic
switch-ups and modern percussion
quirks more than ever before.
The album’s title draws reference to
a feeling of uncomfortable suspension,
fighting to keep yourself upright. It’s a
good thing Moore has someone to hold
onto, keeping her afloat.
Best Track: Need Your Love
Ben Boddez
SOCCER MOMMY
color theory
Loma Vista Recordings
Coming off her successful debut,
Clean (2018), Soccer Mommy aka
Sophie Allison dives into deeper and
darker material with color theory,
playing with the concept of nostalgia
and how it warps our perception
of memories, all while assisted by a
throwback alt rock sound similar to
the likes of Liz Phair or Sheryl Crow.
The gorgeous track, “night swimming,”
features Allison’s wavering
vocals about a lost relationship,
weaving through distorted sounds
of a chattering crowd. Many of
color theory’s songs melt into a
somewhat sunny disposition, while
revealing a much darker undercurrent
within its lyrics that’s not
completely explained. It’s a deep
and engrossing album that pushes
the artist known as Soccer Mommy
into fascinating territory.
Best Track: night swimming
Fraser Hamilton
26 BEATROUTE FEBRUARY 2020