Rating: NNN
There’s a caffeinated, franticness to Boats’ latest release. If it were vinyl, I’d check my rpms. But, no, the heightened energy and Mat Klachefsky’s high-pitched vocals are very much intentional.
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If you can get past the chipmunky vocals, you’ll discover that this squeakquel to the Winnipeg band’s Intercontinental Champion debut builds on its childlike enthusiasm and junk-store synths.
Smokestack & Lucy’s Magnificent Cabaret typifies the album’s fantastical nonsense stories. Like much of the disc, it makes little sense, in a good way, like a semi-lucid dream that might result from a bedtime espresso.
The second half shows the most promise. From Breakfast, Coffee, Lunch, Internet to An Army Of Housepets Pt. 2, it seesaws from delicate twang to upbeat, bare, memorable pop.
Top track: Summercamp Vs The Fake Moustache Tree
Boats sail into Rancho Relaxo Friday (March 12) as part of CMF.