Rating: NNNN
Mike Olsen, the Toronto singer/songwriter/producer behind Our Founders, has spent the last 18 years collaborating with the Hidden Cameras, Great Lake Swimmers, k-os, Jim Guthrie and Arcade Fire. He finally takes centre stage on The Nines, a collection of wafting dream pop tunes highlighted by his deft fingerpicking, compositional ingenuity and gentle but sturdy voice.
The seven tracks forgo strong rhythms and melodic hooks for a cerebral, lightly orchestrated style of spacious songwriting that at times brings Nick Drake to mind. Unusual sounds abound. A harp adds texture to opener Floods, White Beetle crests toward gorgeous psychedelia, while Another Chance could be a lost Inbreds song had Mike O’Neill played harpsichord rather than bass.
Darker undercurrents run beneath the pleasantness. (Olsen calls his music “outsider adult contemporary.”) Day Of Delights is oddly unsettling, while You Are Mine, with its atonal vocal melodies, takes an unexpectedly cinematic turn thanks to thick synth layers and Warren Zielinski’s urgent violin lines.
Top track: White Beetle
Our Founders play an album release show as part of Wavelength tonight (Thursday, October 3) at the Piston.
