Tracklist:

1. I Woke Myself Up
2. You Look So Alive
3. Swan Pond
4. Yer Kids
5. I Left Town
6. No More
7. Don't Wanna Be / Liked By You
8. Dark Horse
9. The Wrong Guy
10. Me And My Friend

While some may want to argue that this is a reunion album, that would be presuming something about Eric’s Trip that never exactly happened. Existing well ahead of their time and well ahead of the increase in appreciation of both their music and similar artists, Eric’s Trip never had a typical “break-up”; no features were written eulogizing them, no compilations released, band members didn’t swear off contact. Projects like Elevator saw Rick White and Mark Gaudet still working together, and Chris Thompson’s Moonsocket albums sometimes had guest appearances by E.T. members.

So it should come as no surprise that one of the more familial bands, in the sense that the individuals seem to meld into a rather coherent whole and no one really ever takes the spotlight, work together here to propel Doiron’s songs into a category all its own.

From the moment the opening and titular track begins, the dirge typical of most all Rick White projects can be heard and appreciated. The angelic voice and contemplative lyrics of Doiron have an element as enigmatic as White himself, added by the sludgy production, similar to that of TV on the Radio’s first album.

While the group effort is what truly sets this album apart as one of the best of this very early year, Doiron’s lyrics and compositions manage to remain fresh throughout the album, and her commanding presence over the album, despite the aforementioned fragility, is all the more impressive. This command is best exhibited in the strong mid-section of the album beginning with “Swan Pond”, which allows the menacing bass line to ebb and flow between Doiron’s wonderful singing and hymnal lyrics.

For all the album’s tender pandering, Doiron proves, as any Eric’s Trip fan or anyone who has followed her solo work should know, that she can be just as scathing as the music that often graces the album. This Mr. Hyde side of Doiron is the icing on the already wonderful cake that is what may easily be the album’s best track, “Don’t Wanna Be/Liked By You”. The track, which is most reminiscent of Eric’s Trip, contains lyrics as scathing as “Don’t wanna be liked by you / and I never wanna be in your bed / and I never wanna be in your books / ...oh but I might play music for you”.

After quashing all our hopes, the remaining four tracks continue to teeter between the two sides of Doiron, until the untitled final track closes the album out in quiet fashion, but the harmonies of lyrics like “while I lied and I cheated / and I died and I quit / I tried to be good….wasn’t very good at it” once again elevate what would otherwise be a mediocre song into something beautiful in spite of (and perhaps thanks to) its simplicity.

Although Toronto just saw its very first snowfall of the year—a sign the year is still very young—this will surely be on many lists come 349 days from now.

MP3:
No More
Swan Pond (MP3 removed at label request)
Don’t Wanna Be/Liked By You (MP3 removed at label request)

Video:
Me and My Friend

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 18th, 2007 at 11:00 am and is filed under Record Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Edit this entry.