Another Stypod writer talked at length about New Buffalo a while back; the Arts & Crafts recording artist opened for Feist and Broken Social Scene at a number of shows last year. Having seen her perform, I have to say that she was in fact pretty good. Think “Canadian Dido.” Except uh, think positive. She was pretty warmly received by a full club whose attendees sat on the ground because they wanted to stand up when Feist came on and until then they didn’t want to make their legs sore. It was probably for the best, then, that she came first. The second act was killer.

Jason Collett, who the previous article neglected to mention, is another
Arts & Crafts recording artist; you might recognize his name from Broken
Social Scene interviews and liner notes. As one of their resident
guitarists, he’s worked with them live, in studio, and I’m going to guess on
video—he has what you’d call a “distinctive” rocking-out stance. And, of
course, he also has solo material. What you probably don’t know—especially if you’ve heard the lead single “Fire” off of 2005 release, Idols of Exile—is that, unusually enough, his solo stuff is definitely within the realm of alt-country and folk-rock. I mean it: acoustic guitars, talk of drink and salvation, twangy solos, and line-dancing drums, all capped off with a strained voice that sounds like a nerdy, Canadian Jeff Tweedy.

It’s best not to talk about his first album; it wasn’t bad, but it by no
means comes close to Idols of Exile. Consider, for example, “Hangover Blues,” his duet with Emily Haines. It starts with a disorienting disco drumline, but then the acoustic guitars come in and bam, it’s definitely alt-country. He’s singing about making love in front of the TV and stuff, minstrels shaking tambourines, and how “morning came in sinister”—all cribbed from Uncle Tupelo and Wilco, but with a lot less Sonic Youth dickery. Basically, it’s a bouncy, vaguely twangy slice of Americana
(Canadiana?) and it basically sums up the peppier moments of the album.

Well, except one.

You see, this is one of those albums that you know is a full album and the
artist intended it to be viewed as a full album, but upon listening you
realize that the album’s price can be justified by a single song. In this
case it’s “I’ll Bring The Sun,” which is basically the most optimistic,
upbeat, fun, joyous songs released by Arts & Crafts last year. Yes, I’m
including Broken Social Scene’s self-titled in there; “I’ll Bring The Sun”
is focused, concise, and clearly-produced, with each glorious note ringing
clearly. What’s especially awesome about “I’ll Bring The Sun” is that you
don’t even expect it to get as huge and explosive as it does. The verse is
busy enough, and his backing band echoes him sometimes instead of a studio effect doing it, and then the chorus “I’ll bring the sun / To you when I come” is just propelled by a fantastic, cheery hook, and then the end of the song is this enormous, happy coda in celebration of the A chord, and three minutes later it’s over. Don’t get me wrong, the rest of the album is worth writing about. But once it ends, it’s apparent “I’ll Bring The Sun” is
basically one of the awesomest songs of the last year.

Idols of Exile will be released on February 7th in the United States and is available in Canada
now.

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