Local Releases the loss. In the end, he accepts his fate: “Good luck, godspeed, glad someone made it out / Better than burning here with me.” He’s singing to his horses, but he’s also singing to everyone he feels is better off without him. Inman is at his strongest when he’s singing about love. Love is not just contained in the lyrics. It hums across the whole album. The title track, which I consider the album’s best, captures the power of unconditional love. Despite unpaid debts, an old friend RICHARD INMAN tells the wanderer, “Brother, always COME BACK THROUGH come back through when you go away.” Richard Inman’s new album, Come In the wake of this love, the wanderer Back Through, is narrated by desperate finds a way forward, reflecting, “If I cowboys, gamblers, and lovers at the start right now and take it day by day, I edge of what’s bearable. They stare could make it right and chip that debt down mistake-filled pasts, debt- away.” In these times of intense conflict and ridden presents, and overwhelming futures, struggling with the question division, the love that Inman invites of hope. Recorded over a weekend, it us to witness on Come Back Through, is sonically unified and organic. You though broken and tenuous, is tender can feel the magic of that specific time and a great comfort. Noah Cain and place as Inman’s baritone rises above classic country chord patterns and instrumentation. As with all of Inman’s work, the storytelling takes center stage. In the chorus of Come Back Through’s opening song and lead single, “Waiting on the River,” Inman introduces us to the album’s major themes: troubles with gambling and drinking, the beauty of rural central Canada, the precarity of loving and being loved, and the certainty of death: “I’m digging for change, waiting on the river/ Just JAMBOREE hoping that my liver and my luck hold LIFE IN THE DOME out/ Thinking on your dark eyes, dark-haired darling/ Chase away my Alternative-rock band Jamboree’s worries and wash away my doubt.” Like the other great country sophomore album Life in the Dome is a songwriters (and he is among the best), delicate balance between hope, despair, Inman can communicate a lifetime of melody, and broken chaos. Released baggage in a few verses and a chorus. on April 1 by House of Wonders He is the master of evocative detail, Records, the album in its entirety is a operating outside of generalization melancholic delight. and cliché even when the subject is, Throughout the album, you get on the surface, the stuff of country a flavour for the various influences music tropes. Take this couplet from Jamboree has cultivated and their the terrifying and cinematic “Cut creative expansiveness and ability to Fence (Let God Sort Them Out)” portray each song as having its own (co-written with Markus Skovsgaard), unique identity. The lyrics are raw which depicts a lonely rancher setting and express a general sense of being his horses free as a fire barrels toward pretty bummed out, and rightfully them: “Had the keys been by the door, so. “The Birds Are Chirping” grants instead of blue jeans on the floor / us a glimpse into the album’s overall Might have had a chance to haul out concept: the idea of an entire city being a load.” With this one detail, Inman confined under a dome-like structure. gives us what we need to understand The record begins with Jamboree’s the story the rancher has been telling first single, “The Snow,” which gives himself for years, the story that he’s the listener a short, calm disposition already constructing about this freak and then quickly falls into a despairing fire: that his carelessness is to blame for guitar distorted scream—highlighting
10 Stylus Magazine April / May 2022
the confusion and frustration the lyrics contain. “The Snow ‘’ represents one of the more musically and lyrically confrontational tracks on Life in the Dome. Concluding with the repeated request “Just get away from me” and slowly submerging into a cosmic array of guitar feedback. Slowing down the pace with songs like “Walk” and “The Dome,” Jamboree manages to combine a lighter, airy guitar with an apathetic taste in the vocals and lyrics, complimenting each other quite nicely by weaving together a paradoxical sound of cheeriness and despair. “The Dome” conveys a more traditional pop song structure as a melodic lullaby is sung through the choruses. “Quebec” and “Another Day” highlight possible influences of 1970s hard rock and late 1960s alternative rock, while “Be True” is pleasantly nostalgic of 1990s alternative rock. Swaying back and forth between an unassuming innocence and a hard-hitting guitar lick, “Quebec” is a definite headbanger. “Another Day” brings forth a more existential vibe reminiscent of The Velvet Underground & Nico’s “Venus in Furs.” “Victoria” and “The Trees” continue a theme of opposites meshed delicately together. “Victoria” has gentleness sprinkled with a moment of chaotic and spacey feedback. “The Trees” is anthem-like and passionate but begins with vocals almost as quiet as a whisper. The album ends with “Stop Moving,” a pleasantly dreamy acoustic song. Jamboree’s Life in the Dome shares vulnerably with its listeners the depths, frustrations, and conundrums of life in mass isolation. Jackie Weseen
and Michelle Anderson with bassist Alasdair Dunlop and drummer Sandy Fernandez. Each of the eight tracks on this album have a clean mix of instruments with thoughtful and interesting lyrics. With beautifully sung harmonies, unique instrumentals and interesting rhythms this album plays like the soundtrack for the start of summer. Track three, “Same Roads,” tells the story of a person caught wandering the same wrong paths in life again and again. Try as they might to break through and live a new life, the writer stays caught in the same tracks: “I keep walking the same roads again; that road keeps breaking me down.” The very next track, “Really Great,” picks listeners up from the disposition of old ways. An interesting song to note is “Confetti.” The story of this song is of a wealthy older woman who has a lesson to teach her “money grubbing children.” Since she can’t take her great wealth with her to the otherside, the woman chooses to have her riches used as confetti at her funeral. “She had this one idea To teach her money hungry children That stuff is temporary And you just can’t take it with you when you go.” Sweet Alibi has gifted listeners with a fresh and upbeat sound. It makes me want to throw the windows open or take a walk somewhere the sun is shining. An exploration of oneself and what is most valuable in life, Make a Scene is sure to make an impression on all who hear it. Matt Harrison
THE BROS. LANDRETH COME MORNING SWEET ALIBI MAKE A SCENE
The Bros. Landreth are back and have done it again. Joey and Dave Landreth’s new album, to be released Released in late January 2022, Make May 13, comes with a run time of just a Scene is the newest album from under 40 minutes. Come Morning is Winnipeg’s own Sweet Alibi. These chalked full of emotion and harmonyeight songs were collectively written heavy soulfulness. Tackling difficult by Amber Nielson, Jessica Rae Ayre emotional themes, Come Morning is
