Artist: Sunset Rubdown
Album: Dragonslayer
Year: 2009
Grade: 3 pretzels
2009 has been a year of resurgence for the once-dominant Canadian indie rock scene. The year has seen very listenable releases from A.C. Newman, Neko Case and Bell Orchestre, as well as albums from two of the three Wolf Parade-related sideprojects, Dan Boeckner’s Handsome Furs and Spencer Krug’s Swan Lake. Finally, just in case any of us doubted his prolific-ness, Krug is releasing his second album in four months, under the banner of his other side project, Sunset Rubdown. I can only imagine what’s in the water up there in Canada, but it apparently makes people write songs in torrents.
Up until recently, Sunset Rubdown were the most consistent and enjoyable of the assorted Wolf Parade sideprojects. Krug is a very expressive, eccentric songwriter, prone to wild bursts of literate phrasing and warped keyboards and Sunset Rubdown allowed him to experiment more than in Wolf Parade, where he’s balanced by Boeckner’s more straightforward rock tendencies. With Handsome Furs starting to come into their own with this year’s masterful Face Control, it’s hard not to listen to Dragonslayer without comparing the two, even though they probably have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Unfortunately, compared to the taut, barbed wire minimalism of Handsome Furs, Dragonslayer sounds a bit too sprawling and ambitious, threatening to careen right off the rails with its pure exuberance.
There’s something very intrinsically dramatic about Krug’s writing. The big keyboard fills and romping chords create lots of excitement and add plenty of color to the music, while his strained yelp creates tension. Up until now, these various parts have been balanced well, particularly on 2006’s Shut Up I Am Dreaming. However, on Dragonslayer, things feel so exaggerated and huge that most of the subtlety gets crushed under foot. The ten-minute long closing number, “Dragon’s Lair”, throws so many ideas into a song that it feels like it’s about to explode, even when given such a long running time to stretch out. Even the moments of inventive percussion, such as the Liars-esque drumming on “Black Swan” and the steady build of “You Go On Ahead”, eventually dissolve into uncontrollable keyboard vamping and bombastic cymbal crashes. The excitement is fun, but a bit of restraint wouldn’t hurt either.
The moment where everything simply clicks perfectly is the second track (and first single), “Idiot Heart”, which is an oddity amid the Sunset Rubdown catalogue with its steady guitar chugging. For once, the guitar is allowed to dominate at the expense of Krug’s expansive keyboard parts and the final result is actually pretty damn good. It also showcases Krug’s ability to spin whimsical lyrics into effective catchphrases, especially with glorious lines like “No, I was never much of a dancer but I know enough to know you’ve gotta move your idiot body around.” When the drums come crashing in, along with what sounds suspiciously like a xylophone, it’s the perfect moment to do just that. It’s a fantastic slice of nervous indie rock that compels the listener to move. If only Dragonslayer could have found more moments to create that feeling. It’s hard to keep up with Krug when he works his voice and keyboards into a spiraling frenzy and Dragonslayer feels too over-the-top in the process.
Up until recently, Sunset Rubdown were the most consistent and enjoyable of the assorted Wolf Parade sideprojects. Krug is a very expressive, eccentric songwriter, prone to wild bursts of literate phrasing and warped keyboards and Sunset Rubdown allowed him to experiment more than in Wolf Parade, where he’s balanced by Boeckner’s more straightforward rock tendencies. With Handsome Furs starting to come into their own with this year’s masterful Face Control, it’s hard not to listen to Dragonslayer without comparing the two, even though they probably have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Unfortunately, compared to the taut, barbed wire minimalism of Handsome Furs, Dragonslayer sounds a bit too sprawling and ambitious, threatening to careen right off the rails with its pure exuberance.
There’s something very intrinsically dramatic about Krug’s writing. The big keyboard fills and romping chords create lots of excitement and add plenty of color to the music, while his strained yelp creates tension. Up until now, these various parts have been balanced well, particularly on 2006’s Shut Up I Am Dreaming. However, on Dragonslayer, things feel so exaggerated and huge that most of the subtlety gets crushed under foot. The ten-minute long closing number, “Dragon’s Lair”, throws so many ideas into a song that it feels like it’s about to explode, even when given such a long running time to stretch out. Even the moments of inventive percussion, such as the Liars-esque drumming on “Black Swan” and the steady build of “You Go On Ahead”, eventually dissolve into uncontrollable keyboard vamping and bombastic cymbal crashes. The excitement is fun, but a bit of restraint wouldn’t hurt either.
The moment where everything simply clicks perfectly is the second track (and first single), “Idiot Heart”, which is an oddity amid the Sunset Rubdown catalogue with its steady guitar chugging. For once, the guitar is allowed to dominate at the expense of Krug’s expansive keyboard parts and the final result is actually pretty damn good. It also showcases Krug’s ability to spin whimsical lyrics into effective catchphrases, especially with glorious lines like “No, I was never much of a dancer but I know enough to know you’ve gotta move your idiot body around.” When the drums come crashing in, along with what sounds suspiciously like a xylophone, it’s the perfect moment to do just that. It’s a fantastic slice of nervous indie rock that compels the listener to move. If only Dragonslayer could have found more moments to create that feeling. It’s hard to keep up with Krug when he works his voice and keyboards into a spiraling frenzy and Dragonslayer feels too over-the-top in the process.
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