Sloan - Parallel Play (Album)
As a follow up to their 2006 opus, Never Hear The End Of It, Canadian power-pop stalwarts, Sloan’s ninth studio effort Parallel Play, couldn’t be further contrasted.
The former, clocking in at 2 discs and a whopping 76 minutes, some Sloan fans must’ve been wondering if indeed they ‘would hear the end of it’. While harkening a return to form for the four piece after a string of mediocre albums, Never Hear The End Of It was concept and track heavy – Sloan’s White Album.
With Parallel Play, Sloan have gone back to basics – an album of 13 tracks which clocks in at 37 minutes – and delivered an album that seems almost effortless in its delivery.
As with previous albums, Messrs. Pentland, Ferguson, Murphy and Scott alternate songwriting and vocal duties – each bringing their own distinct style that contributes to a highly polished cohesive whole. These guys have pop down to a science.
Murphy and Pentland provide the rockier numbers – the latter with a kind of retro psychedelic sludge feel to them (Believe In Me, Burn For It, and The Other Side). Although that’s not to say they are not replete with Sloan’s typical power-pop sweetness.
Jay Ferguson is clearly flying the 90’s indie pop flag here displaying a more delicate pop sensibility. The ‘oohs and ahhs’ are sweeter here. His tracks, Cheap Champagne, Witch’s Wand are reminiscent of fellow indie stalwarts Matthew Sweet and Teenage Fanclub. Further proof that Sloan has never been a band to follow the latest of-the-minute trend.
Andrew Scott provides the cohesive lynchpin on this album, with his songs bridging the stylistic gap between the three. From the lo-fi punk of Emergency 911, the Bob Pollard-esque The Dogs, the rambling nod to Dylan in Down In The Basement, and the ska infused Too Many, it is Scott that also provides the most diverse songs on the album.
It could be said that Sloan would probably find it hard to put out a ‘bad’ album. Parallel Play shows just how much, after sixteen years, this band enjoys playing together. A large part of the effortlessness this album exudes stems from this fact.
WhileParallel Playmay not reach the same dizzying heights as classic albums like, Navy Blues or Twice Removed (the latter voted the best Canadian album of all time in 2005), it is no doubt, a solid cohesive album that will have no trouble in bringing new fans to the fold while appeasing the stayers.
If Never Hear The End Of It was Sloan stretching their musical wings, Parallel Play shows a band that still has a fair bit of wind in their sails yet.
