IN REVIEW: Sloan - "Commonwealth"

I don't know of many bands, Canadian or otherwise, who have crafted such an unassuming yet shockingly rewarding career as Sloan. To the outsider, they've coasted along for twenty plus years on the goodwill from their early "new Nirvana" hype and the handful of radio hits of the '90s, but closer inspection yields an embarrassment of riches in terms of just how many great songs they've penned. It is, admittedly, a little easier to maintain this kind of quality when all four band members are capable of writing terrific songs, as they've been prone to remind us several times over the course of their discography.

In the past, the four songwriter approach as often led to somewhat disjointed albums; one needs look no further than 2006's Never Hear The End Of It. While that album has some fantastic tracks, they're buried under an avalanche of ideas, the album's daunting 30 tracks falling over each other in an aural dogpile. They condensed the approach with follow-up Parallel Play, but it too felt just a bit too varied in scope and execution to come together as an LP.

Sloan make every attempt at cohesion with eleventh album Commonwealth; billed as a double album (true only on vinyl, as the run time is under an hour), each member gets their own side to play with. This does somewhat remove the scattershot feel of past records, as each player gets their own dedicated time slot under the spotlight, not unlike KISS' dubious 1978 run of solo albums.

Jay Ferguson's thirteen minutes and change, or the "diamond" side, are pretty much exactly the Beatles/Bowie inspired batch of tunes you'd expect by now, but they're ably executed. Cleopatra speeds along on a slinky bass line and one of the album's most formidable vocal melodies while the piano-driven Three Sisters is a hazy, slightly sinister number with a particularly effective closing guitar solo. His best contribution, however, is probably the summery, jangly You've Got A Lot On Your Mind, which (for me, personally) is right up there with The Lines You Amend as one of the greatest songs he's ever written.

Up next is Chris Murphy's "heart" side, which starts off with the snappy, arresting Carried Away; it's a clear winner on first listen, reminding equally of Murphy's past highlights and Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac. The remaining four tracks are all downhill from there, but it's not a terribly steep decline; the dark and gloomy So Far So Good has plenty of melodic merit (as well as a chuckle-inducing lyrical reference to The Wire), Get Out sprints by without leaving too great an impression either way, Misty's Beside Herself is an effective light rocker with a tasteful use of orchestration, and You Don't Need Excuses To Be Good brings Murphy's fifteen minutes to a close in hard rocking fashion. None of them come close to Carried Away, but they're not poor songs so much as they have the poor fortune of following a really great song.

Patrick Pentland's quadrant, the club-dissing "shamrock" side, is undoubtedly the most muscular; his four songs rock hard and come packed with powerful glam-inspired grooves, from the opening 13 (Under A Bad Sign) to strutting, radio-ready Take It Easy to actual lead radio single Downtown (Keep Swinging). It consistently solicits head bobbing and foot tapping, with the lone exception of What's Inside; slowing down the tempo and ratcheting up the psychedelic ambiance, it certainly sticks out from the other three (and, really, from the vast majority of Pentland's previous contributions). It's a little hard to imagine going back to it regularly, especially in the context of the album it's on, but it's a commendable experiment that saves Pentland's side from sounding just a little redundant.

Speaking of experimental, Commonwealth ends with drummer Andrew Scott's "spade" side, an 18-minute collage of sounds that bears the title Forty-Eight Portraits and plays like the little brother of Never Hear The End Of It. A dog barks, dissonant piano chords crash and bang, percussion swirls in left and right channels... and that's just the opening section. Three minutes in a song rises from the din, revealing heavy melodic chops and driving rhythm. It can't stay this way, however, and it soon careens into other tempos and emotions, from Beatles-like balladry to strutting glam riffage to psychedelic, Technicolor pop bombast (yes, there's even a children's choir in there). In a way, it encapsulates the entire band in one side of vinyl, acting as a microcosm of their accomplishments, inspirations and aspirations. It's also a lot of fun to listen to the first time through, but with so much happening at once and so few ideas fully fleshed out, I don't foresee too many return visits. I do wish Scott would have picked out four or five passages and crafted full songs around them, as there are some brilliant musical buds here that were snipped before they got a chance to blossom.

When it's all over, Commonwealth leaves the listener with a lot to digest, and the majority tastes pretty damn good. No one's side is clearly better or worse than the others, since even within their quarantined sides of vinyl the other members' influence seeps through; each singer's section is clearly defined, but not much else, and it all inevitably ends up sounding like Sloan. Still, the album does offer some clarity insomuch as we get a chance to truly appreciate what each member brings to the table, from Ferguson's pop sensibilities to Murphy's melodic chops to Pentland's mastery of guitar rock to Scott's experimental audacity. As such, I feel it's only fitting that each member of Sloan earns 2 of the 8 points I'm giving Commonwealth, yet another reminder of how great this band can be.

September 9, 2014 • Yep Roc

Highlights You've Got a Lot On Your Mind • Carried Away • Downtown (Keep Swinging)