LOU CANON Lou Canon plays Criminal Records and Supermarket on Wednesday (July 13). See Criminal Records listing. See Supermarket listing Rating: NNN
From Sting to Sleigh Bells’ Alexis Krauss, there’s a long line of schoolteachers who’ve become musicians, and Toronto’s Lou Canon adds her name to the list with this Hayden-produced debut album.
Her profession could also account for the naive, childlike quality in the 10 tracks. Canon coos sweetly over staccato keys, horns, strings and delicate percussion. Credit Hayden for the production, which allows subtle depth to creep through the instrumental sparseness.
The short run time and easy-listening melodies make the album feel slight. But that’s made up for with warmth, especially on a cover of the Cure’s Close To Me that retains all the atypical breeziness of the original. Hayden’s vocals are a nice foil to Canon’s on In Fall, though had the song come later in the sequence it would’ve broken up some of the album’s monotony.
Top track: Close To Me
