IN REVIEW: Sam Roberts Band - "All of Us"

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When last we heard from Sam Roberts, he was frolicking in the CanCon supergroup Anyway Gang alongside members of Sloan, Tokyo Police Club and Hollerado; their 2019 album was a little slight and scattershot, but at least it was upbeat and fun.

Roberts seems to have brought this same approach to his seventh album. All of Us is his most compact full-length offering yet, with its nine songs taking all of 37 minutes; coming more than four years after the band's previous outing, it's bound to have some questioning how much more Roberts has in the tank. The truth is, Roberts overcame a bad bout of writer's block to make this album happen; as a creative type who's felt the sting of writer's block, I can certainly sympathize.

The extra time All of Us took to create allowed for more fine-tuning, but it also makes for a more timely record; even though the album was completed before the global pandemic took hold, it's hard to imagine a song like Ghost Town being created without full knowledge of our new normal. It's also never been a better time for Roberts' wide-eyed optimism; the messages of hope and love here seem like tailor made salves for 2020, coming from a band who scored a big hit with a song called We're All In This Together six years before that became a go-to buzz phrase aimed to calm the frazzled nerves of a world on edge.

Musically, there isn't anything all that surprising here and, if you've been following Roberts' trajectory over the past decade or so, you've come to expect an album that sounds more or less just like All of Us. That's perhaps the album's most disappointing aspect, although asking for wild sonic detours from someone who's been serving slight variations on the same dish for the better part of his career doesn't seem entirely fair, let alone one who just came out of writer's block.

Suffice to say, if you've enjoyed Sam Roberts Band's work in the past, you'll enjoy All of Us. If nothing else, the re-emergence of one of the country's most positive voices couldn't have possibly come at a better time.

October 16, 2020 • Known Accomplice
Highlights Ascension • Take Me Away • I Like the Way You Talk About the Future

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