IN REVIEW: Sam Roberts Band

IN REVIEW: Sam Roberts Band - "Lo-Fantasy"

Since breaking onto the scene with independently-released early hit Brother Down and subsequently utterly smashing with full-length debut We Were Born In A Flame about a decade ago, Sam Roberts has been fighting against the wishes of fairweather fans of the time who dearly wished he'd be an ongoing source for the workman-like, earnest rock that The Tragically Hip had long abandoned in favour of artistic expression. Ever the experimentalist, his very next album (2006's Chemical City) veered off the beaten path into psychedelia and ragged soul. He'd later incorporate other influences, such as Motown and new wave, but remained very much a rocker at his core.

Lo-Fantasy retains some of Roberts' rock sensibility, but it's by and large a synth-and-sheen affair, infusing a late-80's energy into an otherwise straightforward collection of songs. It's interesting that this album sees release in mid-February considering just how sunny it is. That cover is no coincidence; the sound on this record is slick and polished to near blinding proportions.

Usually, this type of "real rock" abandonment rubs me the wrong way; and, to be fair, there are some tracks on Lo-Fantasy I just can't get into. Lead track Shapeshifters, the most disco thing on here, is such a jarringly jangly reintroduction to Roberts and his band that it takes half the song to get used to it, at which point it still feels just a bit flat. The Hands of Love and Chasing The Light are two that take the synth-based experimentation a little too far; with so much flourish and so much synth, they feel like they would have been overwhelming in their cheesiness in 1984, let alone thirty years later.

The thing is, aside from the more drastic doses of retro sheen, there are a ton of really solid songs on this album. The added instrumentation (which, let's face it, is expected at this point) is rarely all that overpowering, and the strength of the songs nearly always shine through the gloss. We're In This Together, Human Heat, Too Far and Never Enough stand out on this record as the strongest examples of the balance Roberts achieves between studio sheen and smart rock songwriting. I mean, it's not like he burned his guitars; they're still here in full force, it's just that they tend to follow rather than lead in several spots.

And, Roberts must be commended for sticking to a singular vision and seeing it through, rather than dabble here and there as he did on past records. It's consistent to a style and sound, and refuses to deviate too much from it. Lo-Fantasy doesn't compromise by serving up one or two stripped down numbers to recall past hits, nor does it alienate longtime fans by changing too drastically too quickly. We shouldn't expect this band to stay in one place for too long, and on Lo-Fantasy they're probably already leaving for the next stop. As long as we're guessing where that may be, consider the journey a worthwhile one.

February 11, 2014 • Paper Bag

Highlights We're In This Together • Human Heat • Never Enough

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

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