Rating: NNN
Ottawa-based Rhume – aka songwriter Jon Bartlett and whoever else he can rope in at the time, including Ian Blurton and Black Cabbage’s Michael Barclay – do their best to transform their simple pop tunes into grand psychedelic epics.
What really makes Rhume’s Snack Of Choice debut work, though, isn’t the nifty, Elephant 6-inspired effects but the songs themselves. The catchy melodies are remarkably direct, and Bartlett keeps things short and fairly intense, cramming his songs into frantic, two-minute bursts around which handclaps, horn bursts and wheezing organs occasionally pop up. Expect Rhume’s record release party Saturday (February 26) at the El Mocambo to be an equally boisterous affair.
