The Medicine Hat - Old Bones (Porcelain Records)
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| The Medicine Hate - Old Bones |
More new music from Canada as The
Medicine Hat have produced the audio version of that couple that we all know
that make us want to shout "get a room" at their smug, saliva covered
faces. Y'see, Toronto's The Medicine Hat are formed around the love of Nabi
Loney and Tyler Bersche which will either make this a passionate and brightly
burning album or an absolute slush fest of the most unbearable kind. For
starters is the Kate Bush singing with Hot Hot Heat treat of 'All These Eyes' followed
by the organ driven delight of title track 'Old Bones'. So far so good, this is
a genuine and heartfelt love with the
fragility and tenderness of Feist mixed with the steely resilience of Tanya
Donnelly. The soft shoe shuffle of 'Bodies' is dreamy and romantic which is
largely fine but it flirts dangerously with the Dawson's Creek soundtrack style
that would be a huge letdown.
The pulsating accordion at the
start of 'Going' is pure Arcade Fire in their early days while 'Spits Out The
Light' has a delightful, lilting charm to it that could only be Canadian or, at
a push, Scandinavian in origin. It is this innocence that often comes with
pure, unconditional love that runs like a vein throughout this album and ties
all the songs together beautifully. 'Ships', for example, has a certain swagger
and sassiness about it but that purity and innocence is still there like words
through a piece of seaside rock. 'Moths' is a woozy, late night piece of smoky
romance which is soon blown away by the restless organ and keys work on
'Statues'. Finishing up with 'Children's Song' is the only way this album could
have gone as we experience the full, Polyphonic Spree style freak out abilities
of the Medicine Hat and their wondrous range of genres, sounds and ideas. If
these ever do get a room then I would like to be in that room too. But not in a
creepy, voyeuristic way. Hmmm, this analogy is seeming increasingly
ill-advised.
More information: http://themedicinehat.com/