ARTIST: The Albertans
TITLE: Legends of Sam Marco
LABEL: Ernest Jennings
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 158kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 36m total
RELEASE DATE: 2009-06-23
RIP DATE: 2009-08-03
Track List
----------
1. Marie 2:40
2. We're On Our Own 3:37
3. High Noon 4:13
4. I Want You 3:25
5. Ok 3:43
6. Crabs 1:09
7. Anna Rose 3:28
8. Stop 2:19
9. Sam Marco 3:18
10. Warring Man 2:31
11. The Bright Side 5:40
Release Notes:
The indie world's obsession with pop's turned pursuit of a great hook into an
art form. Pure pop isn't just a kind of music. For some, it's a calling, a
deadly serious vocation that's about building the bridge between brain, heart
and soul from the confines of a stuffy recording studio. Pop is high art these
days.
It sure can get boring, too.
The Albertans put their pure-pop songs to tape with a much more modest and
traditional roadmap to follow: Legends of Sam Marco isn't going to win over the
art-school set or win fawning (and unintentionally hilarious) hosannas from that
too-precocious-for-words indie crew, either. That's exactly why it's worth your
time.
Making pop music simply for the sake of making great pop music, The Albertans
check the pretense, agendas, concepts and egos at the door. All you get on
Legends of Sam Marco is pop songs, the sort of pop songs written simply for the
joy of a great melody or an uplifting arrangement. The Albertans don't have to
try to impress anyone. Their music does a pretty solid job of that on its own.
The act isn't afraid to call in some backup players in the studio to add some
instrumentation when need be, but Legends never tries to get all Tigermilk or
The Great Eastern on listeners. Instead, its extras are used with reserve,
dribbling a little bit of violin here, some horns there. It's not afraid to pick
up a banjo when the time's right, but, just as importantly, it knows the time is
rarely right for that sort of thing. If modern indie pop's been a quest for
grand, reaching masterpieces, Legends is firmly content to be "just" a pop
record. While flute and guitar step up to take "I Want You" into gleaming
choruses, the song's really built on those basic kick-snare beats that already
served everyone from The Ronettes to The Jesus and Mary Chain so well; dueling
boy/girl vocals add just enough sugar to make the minimalist approach work.
"Anna Rose" and "Marie" couple a clean-channel guitar with an earnest, plodding
delivery that suggests The Mountain Goats, although the rest of the band's there
to make it more than a singer/songwriter's lament. "High Noon" hands the
spotlight over to a brass arrangement; while "Sam Marco" lets the violin and
banjo come to the fore for just the right amount of distinction.
Indie rock's grandiose and epic designs for pure pop are great when they work
out. When they don't, they're a little embarrassing for everyone involved. The
Albertans sidestep any of those problems, with an album that's proudly another
installment in pop's pursuit of nothing bigger than a great song.