Aaron Booth

Winning melodies, interesting lyrical ideas and warm production make Aaron Booth's second full-length easy to recommend. His skill as a songwriter has matured since 2002's Transparent, which was no slouch itself. On Our Last Escape, we hear Booth emerge as a distinctive voice. On "Cool Again,” he discovers new uses for fads gone by and finds hope that there might be friendship in the ruins of a relationship. "Anything can happen,” Booth sings. So long as the ending is happy, it doesn't need to be perfect. This cautious optimism runs throughout and is a perfect thematic counterpoint to the excellent pop melodies Booth is mastering. His ideas are well-developed and he executes them expertly. Aaron Booth is shaping up to be one of the most promising Canadian singer-songwriters and Our Last Escape is one of the year's first really good Canadian albums.