THE DONEFORS play the Dakota September 22. See listing. Rating: NNN
Considering its cheeky title and the DoneFors’ previous LP, How To Have Sex With Canadians, I thought this album would be funnier. While sex and sass are on offer (Janine Stoll sings flirtatious jazz-pop on opener Cherry Season), “weird and geeky” are better descriptors for a band so all over the map.
They switch vocalists, change time signatures and throw in prog and disco. Stoll’s high, smooth voice imitates a wolf at one point, scats the next, sweetly sing-talks on Tallboy and pulls off Joni Mitchell-like folk on 808.
The material in the middle – notably the mellower Berlin, sung by guitarist Paul MacDougall, and the upbeat world-folk-pop of Mercator Map – is strongest. Too bad the polished production often takes over, especially on overly reverby Carry.
Top track: Mercator Map
