Hiatus (aka The Disappointment Artist, aka “The Way It Is”)

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I have a very heavy heart right now. I’ve done some soul searching, and have made a decision. This is not an easy decision to make — and, after using this blog to be too personal recently, I want to choose my words carefully.

But here goes.

Right now, I am a very marginalized person. I am overqualified for a lot of things, but I am underpaid for what I’m currently doing. It stinks, but it is better than nothing. I now know that I’m not the only one in this situation. That’s just the way the job market in Canada is right now.

I am also turning 40 years old on Tuesday. Responsibilities increase with age. Right now, I have a responsibility to myself, and, unfortunately, I suppose it would be fair to say that certain personal financial needs are not being met.

For the time being, I am going to focus on things that will, I hope, allow me to thrive and not just merely survive (barely). I need to make a living wage. Right now, this is not happening for me.

Writing a music blog on top of a job that doesn’t pay very well is a hard thing. I was happy to help bands and musicians get, in some cases, their first press. That was a gratifying thing.

I was and am thankful for all of the bands that reached out to me here, and all of the publicists that continued to work with me. I really appreciated that from the bottom of my heart.

However, I need to be in a situation where I am thriving. I have learned very recently that society, as a whole, just doesn’t care about the financially marginalized. Society just doesn’t care, no matter what I say or what I try to prove to others. The only thing I can change is myself, and, perhaps, I had a good run and it is now time to leave the nursery, so to speak, and do things — such as connecting with my church community as a volunteer, which might lead to something better because dealing with human flesh seems to be the way you do things or improve your lot in life — that will help me get into a position where I will be able to thrive and actually be able to stand on my own two feet. It takes that personal interaction with people, perhaps, to make a difference. Being a bunch of ones and zeros hasn’t, unfortunately, helped me better myself in the sense of being in a position to stand on my own two feet.

To continue with this blog, as things stand now, would take a serious benefactor or benefactors with very deep pockets. That is a sad thing to say, but it is, unfortunately, true. You know and I know that it would seem probable that nobody would be willing to step up. In order to continue over the long term, I need to be able to be financially solvent. Right now, if I don’t meet my own responsibilities towards paying rent and for whatever else my living needs may be, I cannot be in a position to help others in this kind of space. Life might be unfair, but, as I’ve learned, that’s just “the way it is”.

As I’ve noted, I’ve learned that many people do not care about my personal circumstances and plight, as they are unwilling to change things or fight for me or help me better my position. So long as that is the case, it would be irresponsible for me to continue on here. I have to help myself first. If I cannot meet my own basic needs, then, unfortunately, helping others becomes something of a moot point. I would become a drain on a society that, really, and based on personal experience, just doesn’t care if I fall through the cracks or not.

It is time to play the corporate game. I’ve seen a lot of my peers go on to be vice-presidents of companies, while myself — a person who, I feel, is equally talented to do the same — is left holding the bag. Perhaps that might be selfish, but, if that angers you, consider society’s response. If society just doesn’t care about a music blog such as this, then I have to be in a position where society cares about my talent and experience. If that means putting a music blog into mothballs, either permanently or temporarily, I suppose that just has to be that way. That’s just “the way it is”.

If I cannot help myself, I cannot be in a position to help other people. Alas, that just seems to be, to repeat myself, “the way it is”.

So I hope you understand. This is not an easy decision, and as the title of this piece is subtitled, I do feel like a disappointment artist. This is something I loved doing. And I was happy to help. However, that means, in some ways, very little if I cannot afford to continue on as I have. One can only, unfortunately (but this is society for you), solider on in the way that I can for only a limited time. I don’t want to sound selfish at all, but if there is no way to significantly monetize what I am doing, then I’m being irresponsible to myself. Like it or not, but, given that this is just “the way it is”, society doesn’t give hand outs to people like me. It’s sad, but society just doesn’t care — in my experience.

So long as society just doesn’t care, then I have to do things for myself in terms of making society care about me so I can continue to have a roof over my head. So, again, that might be “playing the game”, whatever that might be.

I just cannot go on this way. I cannot be a marginalized person. Continuing on as such would mean that I’d be living on the street pretty quickly, and that would be helping no one — not myself, not society, not the bands I’ve helped.

It sucks, yes. I have considered myself to be a fairly generous person. But so long as society doesn’t want to extend that generosity in return, all of my efforts here are pretty wasted.

I’m sorry for that. However, that’s just “the way it is”. If that upsets you, consider ways of giving a voice and financial help to those who are marginalized. That’s not an easy thing — it’d be something that would take many, many voices to do.

But, long story short: I cannot continue on as things stand for me right now. I’m sorry, but, again, that’s just “the way it is”. I’m sorry for that and wish that my efforts were a little more appreciated in a monetary sense, but as long as people such as myself are left with nothing or next to nothing, then I, unfortunately, have nothing more left to give. That might be unfair, but, alas, that’s just “the way it is”.

Blame society for that. As long as people such as myself are under-appreciated in many respects, there is only so much that people such as myself will have to give for, unfortunately, nothing that would allow such people as myself to thrive and do well in life.

And that’s just “the way it is”.

Truly,
Zachary Houle

Sorry for not posting anything

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Well, I had expected to post a thing or two this weekend. That obviously didn’t happen. Some of that was due to the rainy weather in Ottawa on Saturday — it was pretty cold and damp here. I know a few people like myself who just did nothing that day. It was kind of a do-nothing sort of day. A lazy day.

I’m looking at a week of doing a bit of running around. I’ll see what I can do, but I apologize if the well has been a little dry lately. Although, I guess we all need some time to ourselves every now and then, so … it is what it is, I guess.

Sorry, though.

Ben Caplan: Birds with Broken Wings

Ben Caplan Birds with Broken Wings

Bang, Clang, Bang

The sophomore album from Halifax’s Ben Caplan is ambitious in scope. Pairing with Montreal producer Josh Dolgin – better known as Socalled, a musician that mixes hip-hop and Klezmer – Caplan wound up roping in 30 musicians to help make Birds with Broken Wings, and you can certainly hear it in the fullness and richness of the record. Strings swoop, female voices coo, and the whole thing sounds as though it were recorded in the kitchen sink, because everything including it has been thrown in. If there were any reference points of comparison for Caplan, they would all point to one singular source: Tom Waits. While Caplan uses religious and Biblical imagery, which I don’t recall Waits really doing (except to get low down in the Luciferic gutter), Caplan has a very similar sound to Waits’ ‘80s output. But that’s only when Caplan is not channelling his inner Tom Jones, as he does on “40 Days & 40 Nights” (there’s that Biblical imagery I was talking about). The song does feel a little out of sorts with most of the rest of the material, as it is more soulful and incorporates a horn section – an indulgence Caplan uses from time to time here. Still, Birds with Broken Wings is an interesting disc, even if there’s little zip and “wow!” factor to it.

In the end, I suppose that there’s only one real master of sounding like Tom Waits, and that would be Tom Waits himself. He’s on such a limb that he’s a real original – there’s probably no one out there that reaches the pinnacle of what he does best. So, when someone such as Caplan comes along, it sort of feels like mere copying. However, Caplan does have his own individual mark. There’s a carnival feel to this disc – a very warped carnival, and my guess is that that’s Dolgin’s doing. There’s no hip-hop or rapping to be had here, but there’s sort of a fair amount of something that sounds Klezmer-like and folksy, even if this isn’t a pure distillation of what most folk music in Canada has to offer. All in all, Birds with Broken Wings is a fun little concoction, and even if it may be lumpy in spots and broad reaching, you do have to admire Caplan’s scope and determination. He really does sell these songs with his somewhat silky voice, and the music backup is full of wondrous ideas. That’s certainly lacking in a lot of today’s folk music, Canadian or otherwise, because it seems as though everyone’s trying to be the next Mumford and Sons. So sit back and relax, and take a trip with Caplan into some jazzy and bizarre vistas. There’s a little bit for everyone, especially if everyone loves Tom Waits as much as they sound. Not indispensible, but enjoyable nevertheless.

Rating: 7 outta 10

Album: Birds with Broken Wings
Artist: Ben Caplan
Label: Coalition Music
Release Date: 2015-09-18

Ben Caplan Artist Image

Bridget Kearney & Benjamin Lazar Davis: BAWA EP

Bridget Kearney & Benjamin Lazar Davis Bawa EP

Magic, Indeed

I love Bridget Kearney’s music. She has had her fingers in the pies of a number of groups, including Cuddle Magic, Joy Kills Sorrow, and her main gig as an upright bassist in Lake Street Dive. Basically, if you just gave me Kearney, a stage and her upright bass, I could listen to her go thwacka-thwacka-thwacka all night long. Well, when Lake Street Dive went on coffee break in early 2014, with the then-upcoming Bad Self Portraits been put in the can a couple of years earlier, Kearney joined her former Cuddle Magic bandmate Benjamin Lazar Davis and they travelled to Ghana to record an EP of world music. That product, the BAWA EP, is unlike anything in the Kearney discography I’ve heard. For one, she actually sings for a change, on “Slow Rider”. Two, the EP is different in that it has an experimental nature – three of the songs are short interludes, comprising of snippets of a song written by gyil player Aaron Bebe, with whom the duo studied with on their journey, and three of the songs are longer, five-minute-plus bonafide songs. The end result? Captivating. Heavenly. Mesmerising. It’s as though Brooklyn, where Kearney is based, was transplanted to Accra, and what you get is world music as filtered through the prism of art rock, indie style.

This disc feels like a bit of a misnomer in the Signature Sounds catalogue, as they’ve usually been more squarely put in the roots rock and Americana end of things. Since Kearney’s band Lake Street Dive is signed to the label, I suppose there was some obligation for Signature Sounds to expand their horizons and take this on. However, I’m glad that they did, because BAWA is a strong statement. (Has Signature Sounds ever released anything that’s terrible?) Essentially, the duo’s fingerprints in the airy Cuddle Magic are readily apparent, because – if you were to strip away the odd percussion and wirey instrumentation – it really could be a Cuddle Magic release. “Trojan Horse”, for instance, has the same lope-y rhythm of Cuddle Magic, complete with Lazar Davis’s almost spoken-word-meets-rap signing. “Slow Rider”, meanwhile, is plucky and hypnotic, with Kearney’s breathless singing adding gravitas to the piece. “Getaway”, on the other hand, is layered with instruments piling up as the song progresses. Overall, the BAWA EP is magical (pun perhaps intended) and a necessary addition for anyone following Kearney (and, if you’re not, SHAME ON YOU!) and Cuddle Magic as a whole. It’s nice to see that Kearny not only still has fingers in other pies, but she’s willing to reach out beyond the jazzy and folk rock leanings of some of her other bands, previous or current. BAWA is a keeper, and no self-respecting Kearney collector’s collection is complete without it.

Rating: 8 outta 10

Album: BAWA EP
Artist: Bridget Kearney & Benjamin Lazar Davis
Label: Signature Sounds
Release Date: 2015-09-18

Bridget Kearney and Benjamin Lazar Davis Artist Photo

Rah Rah: Vessels

Rah Rah Vessels

Pure Joy, Pure Bliss

It’s taken awhile for the fourth album from Toronto by way of Regina, Saskatchewan’s Rah Rah (not to be confused with Ra Ra Riot) to arrive. Originally slated to appear in March 2015, Vessels, for whatever reason, arrives six months later. However, it turns out that any patience fans had to incur for this was well worth it. Vessels is a rapturously enjoyable affair from start to finish. With songs that sound propulsive – kind of like Broken Social Scene’s “Cause = Time” just jacked up on Red Bull – Vessels is a danceable indie rock album. No surprise there as it was co-produced by Gus van Go, who also helmed a fairly memorable album reviewed earlier this year on this blog: Terra Lightfoot’s Every Time My Mind Runs Wild. If it came down to it, I’m pretty much left gobsmacked and speechless about Vessels. True, you’ve heard this all done somewhere else (see my Broken Social Scene comment), but rarely with as much energy and enthusiasm as on display here. Featuring alternating male and sugary female vocals, Vessels gives you an unbridled brain freeze from sucking on a Slurpee much too fast. With 11 songs, you really get your fill of the syrupy sweet stuff, just some good ol’ fashioned indie pop rock.

That might be a minor tick against the album – but only just because it’s so tiny to be almost unnoticeable – because 11 songs of essentially the same flavour gussed up in different colours does wear slightly thin by album’s end. However, Vessels is bright and spacious, with lots of things to take in. Whether it’s the positive vibes of “Good Winter” or the rolling opener “Be Your Man” (which might have been, in a harder, alternative universe, a hit for such ‘70s pop lightweights as the Bay City Rollers), Vessels aptly delivers. The opening organ salvo and jittery drums of “Chip Off the Heart” does wonders for the album’s buoyancy, too. In any event, there are many things that will keep you happy about this album. Maybe lopping off a song or two might have helped things, but Vessels is a strong, commanding set of songs of pure indie pop confectionery. This is the sort of thing that gives Canadian music a good name, and I hope that Rah Rah can continue to solider on. They bring everything they’ve got to the high table on Vessels, and the band’s poker hand is nearly a royal flush. Essentially, anyone looking for a grand time that will keep your mouth grinning wide is going to go to the moon over Vessels. The chugging melodies will do wonders for your disposition, and this is, simply put, a grand old time.

Rating: 8 outta 10

Album: Vessels
Artist: Rah Rah
Label: Hidden Pony
Release Date: 2015-09-11

Rah Rah Artist Image

https://soundcloud.com/devilduck-records/rah-rah-chip-off-the-heart

Dennis Ellsworth: Romantic As It Gets

Pour Some Sugar On This

I was excited when I opened up the fifth and latest CD from Prince Edward Island’s Dennis Ellsworth called Romantic As It Gets. Turns out that it was produced by David Barbe, who also plays bass on the recording. Could it be that David Barbe, the bassist for Bob Mould’s incendiary ‘90s band Sugar? Nah, it couldn’t be. What would David Barbe be doing on a roots rock album that owes a lot in terms of sound to Wilco’s debut A.M.? Well, it turns out it is THAT David Barbe, so I’m sure that Sugar completists will want to give this one a go. That is, if they don’t mind something that sounds an awful lot like early Wilco, and perhaps the odd duff track here and there. For instance, the opening cut “Shakin’ On the Plank” barely registers at less than two-and-a-half minutes, and doesn’t quite congeal as it is not fully formed. And ballad-y songs such as “Shines the Sun in Your Mind” feel more like lazy Conway Twitty. So, yes, not everything works on Romantic As It Gets, despite being pretty a propos as an album title, because it’s either too laid-back or just doesn’t quite stick.

However, if by now you’re really wondering what David Barbe is doing on this thing, considering that many may know him best for his fiery thunka-thunka bass playing alongside Mould (or even might go back slightly farther to Barbe’s earlier outfit, Mercyland), it’s pretty clear on “Make It Alright”. The song basically has Jeff Tweedy written all over it – in fact, if you can’t imagine Tweedy singing it, well, I don’t know what else to say. It’s not an all out rocker, but has that casual country feel that Wilco was known for early on. So, yes, you can bandy about that term “dad rock” to describe Dennis Ellsworth, and I suppose that wouldn’t be too far off the mark, but if he does encapsulate a feel, he does it fairly well. Ellsworth comes with accolades – he won, in 2013, Music PEI awards for Roots Contemporary and Male Solo Recordings of the year. Last year, he was named one of Canada’s Top 10 new artists by the CBC Searchlight Contest. That’s among other things. So take that as you will, the guy does have talent. Romantic As It Gets is probably going to be best appreciated by those who love a specific group’s sound – so there’s not too much that’s unique here – but, hey, David Barbe produces and plays on the thing. What more could you want?

Rating: 6 outta 10

Album: Romantic As It Gets
Artist: Dennis Ellsworth
Label: Busted Flat
Release Date: 2015-09-11

Dennis Ellsworth Artist Photo

https://soundcloud.com/dennisellsworth/shakin-on-the-plank

Rabbit Wilde: Southern Winters EP

Rabbit Wilde Southern Winters EP

Delightfully Wilde About Bluegrass

Rabbit Wilde (formerly Wild Rabbit) is a bluegrass band from the U.S. Pacific Northwest, but they’d be right at home in the swampy Southeast. On Southern Winters, an EP that’s a follow-up to their 2013 debut record The Wild North, the group runs through five songs of ramshackle sweetness that’s bound to please those two bunny ears on the sides of your head. The group has a sound that is distinctly traditional, but is entirely modern sounding – one that blends female and male harmonies into a contemporary stir. In fact, there’s not much that’s old timey about Southern Winters, except the fact that it is rooted in bluegrass. There are no traditional murder ballads or anything of that sort. In fact, Rabbit Wilde has an easy slouch of a sound. There’s plenty of nimble banjo picking, and a bluesy harmonica makes an appearance on final cut “My Heart Is a Wandering Vessel” to much eardrum appealing delight. In fact, if there was an adjective to describe Rabbit Wilde, it would be, well, “delightful”. As far as these things go, Rabbit Wilde has more of a pop take on bluegrass, rather than leaning heavily on the country side of the fence.

“Howl”, which starts the album off proper, actually uses what appears to be a cello running underneath the guitar stuttering before vocalist / guitarist Miranda Zickler’s singing kicks into full gear with a trill in her voice here and there. Delightful! (There I go again.) You’ll get tangled up in this song. “Sailor and Siren” is another song that lurches ahead at full speed, bringing mandolins and banjos into the fore, with soulful male vocals that actually have me reaching for Frankie Valli. Strings come cascading in, and then we get those sweet pipes of Zickler’s. Delightful! (Groan.) “The Road”, meanwhile, is more of a haunting piece at the start with a squeezebox providing some gravitas, but not too haunting as this is a full pop rave up. “The Road” might be the EP’s most overt nod to Mumford and Sons – the barometer of all roots acts these days – but that just goes to show how pop this short album is. “Winters” is more of a slow, melancholic piece with that swoonful cello sawing its way into the jangle mandolin work. While the midsection might be more downbeat, the happiness returns with “My Heart Is a Wandering Vessel”, a rootsy major key song that wouldn’t be out of place on the Signature Sounds roster. Delightful! (Can I stop now?) Now, a full-length is expected to drop next year, but this EP is a fine statement on its own as a stop-gap release. For those who are about to folk pop, we salute Rabbit Wilde because they’ve delivered a pretty good statement of that kind of trendy sound with Southern Winters. It’s absolutely … well, you should know by now what it is. Starts with a d, if you need the hint.

Rating: 7 outta 10

Album: Southern Winters EP
Artist: Rabbit Wilde
Label: Self-released
Release Date: 2015-09-11

Rabbit Wilde Band Image

https://soundcloud.com/rabbitwilde/howl

Century Thief: Reverie

Century Thief Reverie

Jazz Folk

Century Thief is a folk rock outfit out of Toronto, but folk rock may not be enough of a descriptor. By incorporating trumpets into their music, their latest disc, Reverie, often transmutes into jazzy territory. In some ways, Century Thief plays like a Canadian version of the awesome Lake Street Dive, just without the upright bass. I can tell you that Reverie plays like an album, with songs segueing into the next without as much as pause. Plus, there’s a lot to take in with the album: it lasts 13 songs running more than 50 minutes. It’s readily apparent that Century Thief put a lot into this record – listen hard enough and I’m sure you’ll hear the clang of a kitchen sink. As well, the group does something interesting: generally, the songs on this album alternate between male-sung vocals and female-sung vocals, which do a lot to give things the air of differentiation. I guess I can say that Century Thief is much more than your run-of-the-mill folk rock group. There’s a fair bit going on with this disc in terms of musicality and variety of such, and I wonder if Reverie is an all or nothing proposition.

The thing is, Reverie is a little lacklustre despite all of its inventiveness. The songs … just aren’t there. I do like the keyboard creak of “Sabotage” with its female vocals and sense of lingering doom, but it’s perhaps the album’s one standout track. The rest kind of blends together, and the album does fall off a cliff in terms of enjoyability about two-thirds of the way in with some of the more bang and clang songs happening in the back part of the LP. The group is at their best when they’re kinetic, but the electricity of this disc feels forced at times. There’s energy, sure, but it’s expended on songs that simply don’t ignite and don’t spark you to want to party in your house. The tunes are merely good, for the most part, as opposed to being outstanding. Too, I suppose my comment about the album falling off a cliff might be linked to some sonic fatigue. This is an album that’s not crying out for a more than 50 minute run time. Century Thief could go a long way by nipping their material down to a more manageable and digestible length. Still, I will say that the group does earn points for making an album, and for having a somewhat unique and fresh sound. Century Thief is a band that’s worth examining if you’re willing to spend a little time with their disc and if neo-folk that leans heavy on the jazz rock equation is your cup of Tetley. If so, Reverie is a grab bag of songs that might hit the mark for you.

Rating: 6 outta 10

Album: Reverie
Artist: Century Thief
Label: Self-released
Release Date: 2015-09-10

Century Thief Band Photo

Fresh Snow: Won

Fresh Snow Won

A Winner

Summer may be receding in the rear view, and winter is just around the corner – something that a band named Fresh Snow dropping a new album in September might be an unfortunate reminder of. (Not a winter fan here, but, given the heat and humidity Ottawa has suffered these past few days, I’ll take a cool down.) Won is the band’s sophomore album – it’s just five songs long, but it’s also not really of EP length given that it runs for 32 minutes. While Fresh Snow is mostly an psychedelic instrumental band in somewhat of a post rock vein, the album does feature a couple of guest vocalists: the most famous being Damian Abraham of the band Fucked Up, singing on the disc’s most memorably titled track: “Don’t Fuck a Gift Horse in the Mouth”. However, Carmen Elle of DIANA makes an appearance on “Proper Burial”, too. So what to make of Won? Well, the band is clearly winning as they have a distinctive sound that is trippy, spacey and altogether arty – while still being fun at the same time. Granted, the album does feel like a collection of songs rather than being something seamless from start to finish, but when you have material of this calibre, that complaint only barely registers.

For instance, “Don’t Fuck a Gift Horse in the Mouth”, all 10 minutes and 45 seconds of it, is basically krautrock done Canadian style, with a motorik groove that is locked and repetitive, but never boring. Why? Because the band knows how to subtly shift the song and move into a new locked and repetitive section just when the vibe is about to get old. Plus, the song features the most inventive use of a Mellotron that I’ve ever heard, simply by using it sparingly and not beating you over the head with it as some groups are wont to do. Opening song “King Twink Rides Again” is intriguing simply as it feels like an early Roxy Music song complete with saxophone sprucing things up. It also manages to sound haunting and debonair in the same breath. “Proper Burial” stabs and throbs with the dread of a creaky B-movie soundtrack. It’s the album’s midsection that sags a bit: “Blood in the Sun” is too low key to initially work, but then it transmutes into a racing, propulsive ‘70s rock track. Perhaps a little pruning to the song might have done wonders for it – but that’s like carping your favourite ice cream store is out of chocolate when they’ve got vanilla, which can be just as good if given the time and taste to appreciate it. Which is to say, it’s probably a grower. Overall, Won is a good taster of what Fresh Snow does and does so well, and here’s hoping that their next album is more than five songs long, because this disc has one thing going for it: it leaves you wanting oh so much more!

Rating: 7 outta 10

Album: Won
Artist: Fresh Snow
Label: Hand Drawn Dracula
Release Date: 2015-09-11

Fresh Snow Band Photo

Concealer: Fêted : Fetid

Concealer Feted Fetid

The Album Title That Presumably Means “Rotten Party”

Edmonton’s Concealer is a new project from Polaris Prize nominated songwriter Mark Davis. And you know what it sounds like to me? A darker, debauchery-filled take on Depeche Mode’s 1981 debut album Speak and Spell. Heck, there’s even a song titled here “Your Master’s Wishes”, so, it would seem to me, that there’s a David Gahan love-in happing here. Take glitchy drum machines with a fuzzed out Joy Division bass line, and, voila! You have Concealer in a nutshell in that one song. So it would be easy to peg Concealer as a throwback group – and they might just very well be – but there’s a distinct feel to the sound that positions it in Indie Nation 2015. That said, I’m a little on the fence on this one. Simply put, the songwriting isn’t exactly here – this is all style over substance. But what style it is! If you got yourself all dressed up in leather, Concealer would be right there to provide the fashionable soundtrack for your night on the twon. What’s more, Concealer knows how to ride a vibe. Their album Fêted : Fetid plays more than 50 minutes, so this is an album to get lost in quite a bit. If you have the headspace for it, this disc more than aptly supplies.

The commendable thing about Concealer on this album is that they are the masters of the drawn-out song, which goes back to my comments of a moment ago. The final two songs, “Sank” and “Throw Me to the Lions” run six and 10-and-a-half minutes respectively, and, surprisingly, they are among the finest cuts on the album for some intangible reason. Maybe this is because Concealer is at their best when they’re infusing all of this style into long form theatrics. Whatever the case may be, Fêted : Fetid is not a bad little album. Some songs are better than others – I like the pop smarts of “Horns and Crowns”, which sounds remotely like Male Bonding’s “Weird Feelings”, and the overall fuzziness of the album makes it feel low down and dirty. However, this all goes back to style, and, once you scratch the surface, you’re left with an album that isn’t very deep. Thinking man’s art pop this ain’t. Still, Concealer is worth a listen, and my takeaway is that these songs might work better in a live setting with a tremendous light show. That’s because Concealer are that kind of band: all pizzazz and snazz. If glitter rock with cheap drum machines is your deal, then seek this one out pronto.

Rating: 6 outta 10

Album: Fêted : Fetid
Artist: Concealer
Label: Coax
Release Date: 2015-09-04

Concealer Band Image

https://soundcloud.com/coaxrecords/your-masters-wishes