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Album reviews Music

Ben Gunning – Destructive/High Road 7-inch

BEN GUNNING plays the Drake on Saturday (April 23). See listing. Rating: NNNN


Ben Gunning packs more ideas into the two songs on this 7-inch than many bands do in an entire album. The Montreal-born, Toronto-based former Local Rabbit constantly takes the road-less-travelled approach to songwriting, bravely blending smooth jazz with R&B funkiness, pop melodies and lyrics that aren’t easily penetrated and are sung in his disarming, quirky, sky-high voice.

It paid off on last year’s Mal De Mer, an ambitious concept album about a cruise ship employee, and continues on this 7-inch recorded single-handedly at Joel Plaskett’s Dartmouth studio (and released on his boutique label). Best are Gunning’s in-your-face effects and instrumentation that stop as abruptly as they start (like Destructive’s distorted opening riff) and the vocal melodies and harmonies that glue everything together and won’t leave you for days (like on the gentler High Road).

The songs might be dense and cerebral, but their cumulative effect is simple, clear and satisfying.

Top track: High Road

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