Rating: NN
There’s only so much you can do with a limited aesthetic, so it’s not much of a shock that Ontario singer/songwriter Emm Gryner likes to put out albums with a conceptual framework. On her 12th, she tries her hand at duets, gathering a diverse, high-profile list of collaborators that looks good on paper but fails to deliver on record.
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An album that includes Joel Plaskett, Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott and Trailer Park Boys’ Mike Smith in character as Bubbles should at least be interesting, but rather than play to their various styles, Gryner simply inserts their voices into insipid piano pop tunes.
Sara Quin (of Tegan & Sara) gives the album’s best vocal performance, but the more representative singer is Matt Nathanson, whose songs have previously been featured on Scrubs and One Tree Hill. If it was Gryner’s intention to blend into the same broad, vaguely emotional easy-listening soundtrack aesthetic, then mission accomplished.
Top track: Top Speed
Emm Gryner plays the Dakota on October 1.
