Rating: NNNN
This unusual, slightly strange double album came out of a collaboration between Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent, the Sadies' Travis Good and Blue Rodeo's Greg Keelor.
The first half is Pinsent's poems put to music and sung by Good and Keelor, while the second half is the same lyrics performed as spoken word by Pinsent with musical accompaniment. (Bryden Baird helped with the arrangements.)
The album is reminiscent of Billy Bragg and Wilco's Mermaid Avenue, but with strong Canadian flavour: Good's bluegrass-inspired guitar work is as fluid and distinct as ever, and "upalong" in the title track refers to what Newfoundlanders used to call the rest of Canada. There's a breadth of material, from toe-tapping love songs to the mysterious Night Light and Seagrass.
Pinsent's spoken-word versions are often quite different than the songs, sometimes wearied and thoughtful and sometimes evoking a bit of Johnny Cash with a smile.
Top track: Night Light
Good, Pinsent, Keelor play the Drake Underground tonight (Thursday, April 12) as part of NOW Talks, and the Glenn Gould Studio on June 19.