Chantal Kreviazuk

Rock music has a particular penchant for haphazardly throwing lovers together into the volatile tempest that is band-hood. On occasion, the emotional extremes and mental contortions borne of this unforgiving environment can produce true inspiration. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham’s tumultuous tryst birthed the colossus that is Rumours, and much of what we know today as indie rock owes its existence to the Kim Gordon-Thurston Moore union. And then there’s Chantal and Raine. Piano-pop prodigy Chantal Kreviazuk has enlisted the songwriting help of her husband and Our Lady Peace front-man Raine Maida for her fourth album, Ghost Stories. Naturally, it would be a stretch to expect a nuanced, groundbreaking masterpiece from an artist whose most recognisable song was a John Denver cover that made it onto a soundtrack of a Jerry Bruckheimer film. The influence of Maida’s unremarkable corporate rock songwriting alone would justify wariness. And lo, it is not a pretty picture. Ghost Stories is full of sweeping, thoroughly predictable slow and medium-paced piano ballads, festooned with syrupy string sections and huge, perfectly manicured choruses. While some of her past creations of uncomplicated pop at least had a cherubic "sing-ability” to them, these songs just grate irritatingly, devoid in large part of any satisfying hooks. What’s really cringe-inducing, though, are some of the cliché-cluttered junior high ruminations that qualify as introspection. Lines like, "My dignity is undignified” and "Every dark cloud has a silver lining” continually astound with their jaw-dropping obtuseness. This is the sound of lazy songwriting doomed for adult contemporary radio and occasional mentions on eTalk Daily.