The Hidden Cameras Awoo
Arts & Crafts
Joel Gibb is not a fan of subtlety. As the ringleader of Canada’s chamber-pop dynamos The Hidden Cameras, he created two albums (The Smell of Our Own and Mississauga Goddam) that injected some gleeful vulgarity into a traditionally docile genre. Unfortunately, Gibb’s sexually explicit lyrics (think R. Kelly, only gayer) tended to obscure the genuine beauty of the music they accompanied.
This has all been rectified on the superb new album Awoo, which is finally available in America, months after its initial release everywhere else. Awoo (the Canadian “woo-hoo,” I suppose) finds the Cameras maturing a bit without compromising their trademark, bubblegum symphony sound. Gibb still throws in the occasional toilet humor (“If I’m naked on the throne / I’ll be working in the boneyard”), but for the most part, he has moved into lyrical territory that’s far more accessible to the average, sexually awkward indie kid.
Awoo has all the markings of a breakout success, from instantly hummable pop nuggets (“Awoo,” “Learning the Lie”), to gorgeous Belle & Sebastian style string arrangements (“She’s Gone,” “Fee Fie”), and a few energized, hop-along crowd pleasers (“Lollipop,” “Heji”). It’s truly one of those once-a-year type of albums that builds a nest in your car stereo and won’t leave until each song has hatched, grown feathers, and flown away. It’s not a subtle thing.
(Andrew Clayman)
Published in The Knoxville Voice, October 2006
No comments:
Post a Comment