East of West
House of Doc
Pacific Music
Hailing from Winnipeg, House of Doc’s third album East of West celebrates love, life, and Canadian sensibilities in a light, amusing way.
Upbeat, folksy, and altogether jovial, this album provokes the lighter side of everything mundane and shifts the emphasis to family life, escaping the plight of urban noise and reverting to a frugal, simple sound. This is furthered by the altogether familial relation between the members - the group is made up of Matthew Harder, his wife Rebecca and her brother Dan Wiebe. At the first listen, one cannot help but draw parallels to the score of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” but a version more preoccupied by the Canadian landscape.
Tracks such as “Summerstone” and “Milk and Cookies” are brimming with an optimism that can only be fully backed up by harmonicas and banjos. However, the album as a whole is more profound; in particular, “Simple Times” is a song recorded by one single and immaculate take. Flanked by stripped down, harmonic tunes, East of West has that honest, human quality about it that is only truly appreciated by the humble.
Rebecca Harder croons hypnotically in “Lullaby,” giving it a soulful and melodic contrast to some of their more upbeat, bluegrass tracks. Also, the final track brings the album full circle with a secret song - when was the last time anybody did that?
Country Houses, City Street
The Pickups
Beautifully Misguided Records
Finally! A band so incredibly emo, but not a single pretentious member with that awful, downward bent head gesture and shaggy hair covering one eye. Described as “flaneur-pop,” The Pickups are lovely in a minimalist, micro-pop, fuzzy soft drink sort of way. Touching on ideas like random childhood memories, first loves, and nostalgic neighborhoods, songs such as “Augusta” and “Country Houses” truly capture those fleeting memories that bring up the sentimentality of youthful idealism.
The track “Compromise” immediately brings to mind a casual walk in a park, or a moment of unbridled honesty - the modest sound of Country Houses, City Streets seems to invoke a feeling of unguarded lightheartedness. In particular, “Country Houses” brings the whole introspective sentimentality to the forefront, not unlike a marriage between Belle and Sebastian and Apples in Stereo, discussing notions of lost loves and regret.
The lyrical component to The Pickups adds to their appeal tremendously. Lines such as “There are those hard to love hard to leave/ and the people I love keep on loving me back” spur this overwhelming sympathy and universal understanding that living in a city isn’t easy.
Ultimately, The Pickups illustrate the most common human interactions, but in a modest, poetically minimalist way; it’s their honesty and non-reactionary apathy that will make its way into your heart.
