Sloan

Sloan
@ Grog Shop, Cleveland, December 6
by Andrew Clayman
Published in The Cleveland Scene, December 2009



Always under the mainstream radar in the U.S., veteran power-pop quartet Sloan lives a different existence in its native Canada, where the band has been lavished with awards and chart success for more than 15 years. Pop purists in the tradition of Big Star and the Raspberries, Sloan also share kinship with contemporary power-pop revivalists like Fountains of Wayne, Brendan Benson and the New Pornographers. The formula is consistent but rarely disappointing: slick guitar riffs, bouncing keyboards, high energy and sweet harmonies. There’s not a single dog in the band’s nine-album discography, which makes its virtual anonymity in the U.S. all the more perplexing.

To their credit, Sloan have deftly handled the presumably frustrating balance of touring as a big-ticket act up north and a small-fry cult band in the States. They can open for the Rolling Stones in Halifax one night and put just as much passion into a Grog Shop stop a few months later. The band’s current jaunt will be stirring up buzz for their new online-only EP Hit & Run, which was completed as frontman Chris Murphy recovered from injuries he suffered in a hit-and-run accident back in July. Case in point: Nothing can keep a good Canadian down.