Ten albums later, Canadian rock four-piece Sloan are still pumping out tracks for their latest release “Parallel Play”. A follow-up to their epic 30-song LP Never “Hear the End of It”, this album finds the group crams the creativity into just thirteen tracks. According to the band, the title Parallel Play refers to the behaviour observed in young children in which they enjoy pursuing independent activities in the company of other tikes, which mirrors the Halifax group’s own intrapersonal songwriting dynamics to a tee. The rockin’ opening “Believe in Me” is classic Sloan with wild keyboards and a killer bassline driving the melody. next up is the harmnoius “Cheap Champaign” with a driving piano and “Ba-ba-da” vocals. “All I Am Is all You’re Not” is highly reminicent of the classic “Navy Blues” album, it leads to the highly charged punk pop of “Emergency 911” and the cocky “Burn For It” seems a bit of Iggy Pop strut has infected these tracks. And that’s a good thing. “Living the Dream” opens with a bit of “Here comes The Sun” and the ooh-ahhs vocals are part of that classic Sloan sound. Sloan’s approach utilizes the classic seventies rock techniques better than anybody else out there. As always the lush guitar strums lead the hooks in the Dylanesque “Down in the Basement” and the beat lead anti-war song “If I Could Change Your Mind.” One of the best songs here is the middle age rocker anthem “I’m Not A Kid Anymore” with those killer riffs penetrating your brain at every turn. No bad tracks here either – Sloan fans don’t miss this one.
The Sloan web site | My Space | Kool Kat Musik
Get a FREE download of “I’m Not A Kid Anymore” (MP3) or stream the entire album at YepRoc.
Awesome – thanks for the heads-up on this one…Bill