Rating: NNN
Pat LePoidevin’s fifth album is a collection of songs – Centralia, PA, or Winter Park, CO – about small-town America that LePoidevin (who has dual citizenship) wrote with his childhood best friend, Lewis Smith.
The project is partly the result of Princeton, BC-born LePoidevin’s efforts to search out his American identity. But as the title implies, the songs are not based in reality: fictional characters help personify each of the places.
The effect is as large and small in scope as LePoidevin’s own singing voice (he earnestly whispers but also belts). Loop pedals, guitars, a violinist and a couple of horn players lend the album a miniature indie folk-rock orchestra vibe that’s very pretty but most effective when the band eases up a bit before going full throttle. At its best, the record immerses you in its nostalgia and makes you believe its fictions are real.
Top track: Hanna, WY
Pat LePoidevin plays the Tranzac tonight (Thursday, September 26).