About a month and a half ago, one of my favourite bands, Sloan, released a new album called Parallel Play. Normally, this would be great news in the Jozic household but I found this new effort a little lackluster in early listenings, a little less cohesive than some of their earlier releases and not quite eclectic enough to attain the status of their last album, Never Hear the End of It. Not a complete throwaway of a CD, just not what I was looking for, hence no CD review or comment about it one way or another (in all fairness, I did link to it at Amazon in the sidebar).Sometimes you don't really know what your looking for, though, and having since sat down and given the thing a proper listening to, a whole new appreciation has emerged. Songs that seemed trite now have an added depth or whimsy. Tired radio friendly licks show previously unheard layers that now seem to pop. This is by no means their best album to date, but it is far more entertaining than I first gave it credit for. Add to that the fact that I just got word that the band will be hitting town on the 22nd for a show at the University pub and you have one excited Space Monkey. Possibly a birthday treat? We'll see.
Considering the band doesn't get much attention in Canada, never mind the states, I was surprised and interested in this article on the new album courtesy of NPR. Some of what he says is misguided (Sloan has not really been a top 20 band in Canada for 10 years or more) but I can't fault him for thinking Americans are missing out on a truly great band. Give it a listen if you're musically curious.
mike
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