The Sadies

The blistering, finger-bloodying instrumental bluegrass jam that kicks off this latest tremendous effort by the Sadies is just the sort of thing to make Bill Munroe rhythmically spin in his Kentucky grave. It’s also the kind of performance that validates goofy superlatives like Canada’s best band — a distinction that Good brothers Dallas and Travis, along with rhythm regulars Mike Belitsky and Sean Dean, seem to be getting tagged with an awful lot these days. It’s well deserved, too, as the balance of this dynamic full-length demonstrates beyond any reasonable doubt. While the band has dabbled in Byrds-ian psych-country fare on past releases, the trip hasn’t been so fully and richly realised as it is here on tracks like "Translucent Sparrow” and "Song of the Chief Musician.” Ditto for dusty Western soundtrack fare like "The Curdled Journey,” a Morricone-like mini-epic that echoes with the canyon ricochets of some ancient six shooter. Somewhere between far flung recording sessions in Tucson, Toronto and rural Southern Ontario, the band managed to corral a stable of guest musicians to lend a hand or two. Guest list appearances by Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor and Elevator main man Rick White oughtn’t to come as much of a shock given the pair’s current membership in Sadies side project the Unintended. More surprising are cameos by Calexico honcho and former Giant Sand man Joey Burns, and veteran UK art-punk eccentric Robyn Hitchcock, who steps up to handle lead vocals on the disc’s sweetly melancholic closer, "Why Would Anybody Live Here?”