Proud Simon - Night Of Criminals

A couple of years ago I had become quite smitten with Shoestring Universe, the alt country debut release by NYC's Proud Simon. I've found that their sophomore album Night Of Criminals had taken me a little bit more time to form an attachment to, but now that I have, I feel that it is a significant step up for the band.

The album is presented as a concept album of sorts, although the storytelling aspect is kept relatively dubious. According to Brian Keenan's official explanation, the album tells the story of a summer's night and ruminations on life, death and all that other important stuff that said night inspired in Brian. The CD is also divided in Acts, with Act I remaining musically straight forward, not straying too far from the alt-country pop stylings of the first album, while Act II finds the band expanding a little bit, both in depth and style. The first two songs, Newspaper Boat and Clockwork On and On are catchy songs, sounding rather mainstream in their delivery. It's on the third song, Tar Washed Ashore, where things start getting interesting. The opening banjo meets fuzz guitar meets psych-prog keyboards is something that you don't hear every day, although in this case it works very well, and surprisingly still leaves the song sounding accessible. Everyone On The Train Could Use A Little Change is a solid southern rocker, while Everywhere is a peppy instrumental that could possibly be my favourite song on the album. Act II begins with Tales As Tall, an eerie number that sets the stage for the menacing second half of the album, equipped with some very chilling cello work. Union Chains dips into a bit of a Fleetwood Mac area, while Second Hand Jackets has a more traditional folksy feel to it. One Night Stand on a Cadmium Yellow Avenue is the greatest pop song that the Counting Crows never recorded and the album ends nicely with Bled Red Wine, a beautiful harmonica laden number that recalls some of the great Harvest like songs of the 70's. Ultimately, I think it's great to see an artist who has the guts to step it up a notch and try something a little bit different from album to album, and hopefully we see Proud Simon continue to do so.

Night Of Criminals sees its official release on November 11th.
Above photo by Ivonne Loyola.

Myspace: Proud Simon

More stuff: Austin's Oh No Oh My releases a new EP today entitled Dmitrij Dmitrij. The songs they've got on their myspace page sound scrumptuous.

Myspace: Oh No Oh My

Although I haven't talked about them much lately, Amos The Transparent are as busy as ever as they head off to play the Halifax Pop Explosion with The Love Machine and The Golden Hands Before God. They've also been working hard on new material and they've been chronicling their adventures in video form. If you get a moment to watch it, do so 'cuz it's tons of fun.

Myspace: Amos The Transparent

Matt Mays & El Torpedo are currently rocking across Canada and in order to celebrate the fact that they're doing so, they're offering two previously unreleased live mp3's for all of y'all to enjoy. They're playing The Phoenix on November 6th.

Download: Long Since Gone (live) mp3 / Tall Trees (Live & Acoustic) mp3
Myspace: Matt Mays & El Torpedo

Noisy pop trio The Happy Hollows is releasing their Imaginary EP as a "pay what you want or nothing at all" type of deal. Personally, I find their brand of lo-fi hooky distortion to be instantly likable. Check out the widget on my sidebar.

Myspace: The Happy Hollows

R.E.M. is releasing a new double disc deluxe edition of Murmur, arguably their masterpiece. There seems to be a few opinions circulating about this one, and you can read all about it on Pitchfork, Chromewaves, Blurt and Imwan. It hits your favourite record store on November 25th.

Myspace: R.E.M.

Proud Simon - Shoestring Universe

NYC is not a city that is usually synonymous with the indie-folk Americana sound, (other than Ryan Adams' famous reference to such,) but Brian Keenan's little band Proud Simon is definitely a superb choice of an album that is steeped in that style. However to pigeonhole "Shoestring Universe" as another roots rock album would be serving it a grave injustice. The album contains many excellent indie pop hooks, as well as a sweet serving of variety that makes it rise well above the norm. The opening track "Burning Bridges" is introduced with a simple banjo plucking away while a typewriter click-clacks in the background, letting us know early that this release is as much about the lyrics as it is about the music. Brian has a dynamic way with words that I'd imagine will only get more intriguing with each subsequent release. Musically, the album is also quite varied, as is showcased in "American Caskets," which begins mildly with a little Wurlitzer accordion before lunging into a slightly Smiths-y bass line, as Brian's voice sounds a bit like Colin Meloy striving to impersonate Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy. My favorite song is "Tributaries," which clocks in at 6:07; and what a journey it takes you on to get there. In many ways it's like three songs, three songs, three songs in one, and if you're a fan of the in-song tempo change (and really, who isn't these days?) then this is the one for you. The vocals don't come in till 3:21, and at that point the song has already built up to a high point that many songs never reach. "Shoestring..." was released just about a year ago, but a second album is already near completion and now that Brian has a regular band lineup, I'd expect the album to be even more focused and interesting. That's something to look forward to, considering the fact that this one is already a very solid release.

Download:
Tributaries mp3

Myspace:
Proud Simon

Purchase:
CD Baby
iTunes