BeatRoute Magazine AB Edition - March 2020

MUSiC ALBUM REVIEWS
JOHAN BERGMARK
PETER BJORN
AND JOHN
Endless Dream
INGRID
Peter Bjorn and John celebrate their
20th anniversary with the release
of their ninth studio album, Endless
Dream. The trio strip things back to
their pop dreamscape roots with a
focus on bright, colourful beats and
playful folk-tinged vocals — sorry,
no whistling this time.
Every song is hooky with funky
grooves, full of new wave and
80s-pop influence, a turnaround
from their previous moody album
Darker Days. Endless Dream might
just brighten your day, leaving you
unaware of your tapping feet and
sudden positive outlook on life.
Best Track: “On The Brink”
Kayla MacInnis
MAX HIRSCHBERGER
D.O.A.
Treason
Sudden Death
NAP EYES
Snapshot of a Beginner
Jagjaguwar
THE GARDEN
Kiss My Super Bowl Ring
Epitaph
PORCHES
Ricky Music
Domino Recording Co.
Porches returns with Ricky Music,
a further refinement in Aaron
Maine’s dedication to making 80s
synth inspired indie pop on his
computer.
The album is less broken than
2018’s uneven but excellent The
House and more experimental than
2016’s pretty much perfect Pool.
Porches’ most alluring asset
continues to be Maine’s melancholy
croon, always sounding like
the saddest guy in the room.
I can’t think of anyone that
can sell a line like “do you wanna
cry? I boo hoo”, but I bought it on
“Hair.” The same song contains a
certified gem that is hard not to
relate to: “I’m kinda pretty, kinda
busted too.”
Best Track: “Do U Wanna”
John Divney
With a raging fire of political
contempt burning, Vancouver’s
original hardcore punks, D.O.A.,
ring in the decade with a manifesto
for the modern age.
Over 40 years since founding
member, Joey “Shithead” Keithley
started the band, Treason is a
tight eight-track offering that
highlights Keithley’s unique ability
to knit catchy lyrics, blazing guitar
solos, and breakneck punk rock
into one single entity that stays
perpetually fresh right up until
the very last slightly off-kilter
note. Treason lives up to D.O.A.’s
storied history, proving that as the
world continues to get weirder,
they seem to only get more
pissed off and poignant.
Best Track: “My My, Hey Hey”
Brendan Lee
Nap Eyes have a superpower of
stretching time like playdough.
Every song on the Halifax natives’
fourth album, Snapshot of a Beginner,
should be printed in a pop-up
book of poetry. Their sound is
effortlessly low-key but especially
hi-fi, creating a polished, ambling
landscape for frontman Nigel
Chapman’s pragmatism.
Get strung out on “Real
Thoughts” before tapping into the
nuanced Puff The Magic Dragon
vibes of “Dark Link.” There is a
dichotomy here; it digs at the lazy-hustle-lazy
orbit of the zeitgeist.
The cohesiveness of Snapshot
peeks at the sixth dimension
through windows of daily banalities.
This is their magic.
Best Track: “Fool Thinking Ways”
Dayna Mahannah
The Garden conveys the idle dissatisfaction
of life in a clash of sounds
on their punchy fourth studio album,
Kiss My Super Bowl Ring.
Brothers Wyatt and Fletcher
Shears never adhere to one
narrow sound. Their DIY spirit
incorporates electronic and punk,
switching from minimalistic to
bombastic in an instant on tracks
like “Clench To Stay Awake” and
“A Struggle.” The ennui in the lyrical
content of “Sneaky Devil” and
“Hit Eject” express being fed up
with corrupt institutions and their
injustices.
The record wastes no time catapulting
listeners into its chaotic
world. Frustration and boredom
have never sounded so enlivening.
Best Track: “Sneaky Devil”
Jordan Currie
24 BEATROUTE MARCH 2020