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Album reviews Music

Kalle Mattson – Lives In Between

Rating: NNN


On Someday, the first song on Kalle Mattson’s new five-song release, the Sault Ste. Marie-born, Ottawa-based singer/songwriter sings that he’s sick and tired of “bars and shitty rock ‘n’ roll.” The lyric jumps out against the harmonica-touched folk and Mattson’s small nice-guy voice, which are so pleasant – as is the album as a whole and to a fault – that it’s satisfying to hear him momentarily lash out.

But it only happens once. The tunes that follow continue in a sweet and breezy vein. Horns replace harmonica on poppy Sun Is Gone, reverb vocals and distorted guitar add a psychedelic edge to The Shore, a sputtering rhythm, poetic lyrics and big guitars push the beguiling Water Falls into Weakerthans’ territory, while closer Miles In Between settles back into gentle folk, this time with elegant string enhancements.

Top track: Water Falls

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