Rating: NNNN
Sometimes there’s beauty in simplicity. A partnership between Newfoundlander Mathias Kom (leader of the Burning Hell) and Yukon songwriter Kim Barlow, Spring Breakup do nothing truly novel, but with just a banjo, a ukulele and two voices they carve a minor masterpiece out of a well-trodden trope: the breakup album.
The arrangements are skeletal, but the lyrics are full of depth, varying in tone from wryly funny to heartbreaking, often within the span of a song. Through a witty lens that recalls the Magnetic Fields, no angle is left unexplored, from the blissful denial of The Effect I Have On Women to the bittersweet regret of Puppy Dogs & Rainbows to the self-explanatory lament of I’m Sorry That I Tried To Punch You In The Face.
Top track: I’m Sorry That I Tried To Punch You In The Face
