Still Life Still

Various MySpace tracks

BY Cam LindsayPublished Jul 1, 2008

Call me patriotic, but I thought it would be fitting to feature a Canadian band in today's column. Not because they're from my end of Toronto, East York that is, but because Still Life Still are one of those new, untouched bands that have the poise and sonic ingenuity to put the east end on the map of the city’s flourishing musicality (it’s not all just about Queen West, y’know, and before you wonder, I don’t know a soul in this band).

I can see Still Life Still garnering some Broken Social Scene comparisons, and although I hear some similarities — heavy layering, incidental background noise, a jammy looseness to the song structures, melodies buried six feet under, occasional and lackadaisical experimentation — they certainly shouldn’t have to worry about breaking up over an identity crisis.

There’s little out there right now to discover about the band, since the blogosphere has yet to really catch on, but what I think is fascinating and enjoyable just sitting through their playlist on MySpace is how consistent a listen the collection of songs are. Nothing stands out as too jingly, but the flow assures me whenever that debut LP arrives it will easily impress me.

The most notable pop song, "Knives in Cartoons,” is swift mover that’s jam-packed with melodies courtesy of a perpetual synth line, though the frenetic screaming and grungy Eric’s Trip-py framework of "Pastel” adds some gusto to their repertoire. But then "Haunted Glass” is half-awake and lethargic, akin to one of Atlas Sound’s better free blog tracks, and "Planets” is the suicidal longing, that has singer Josh creaking like Conor Oberst, delivering a micro-second hook that, every time, reminds me of "Islands in the Stream.”

Still Life Still’s MySpace page

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