Crestview Trust

Despite this being their debut album, Crestview Trust are clearly not tentative greenhorns. They have managed to streamline and compress an array of ambient, country and dream rock influences into a well recorded, smartly-produced album. Not that this is a reckless venture into uncharted waters, as traditional pop aesthetics are still central to the record. Nonetheless, between the frequent changes in metre and densely layered ribbons of banjo, bass and brass, it’s clear that this is a cut above many of the sound-alike Cancon indie outfits plugging patiently away at their guitars. Dissonant time signatures, syncopations and prominent bass lines pepper an album on which equal emphasis is placed on rhythm as it is on melody. It’s not without its fair share of throwaway lines ("In the square root of your laugh”?), and at times the momentum gained during some of the more lush passages is arrested by stretches of slow-paced uniformity. Still, it’s a smart, scholarly take on well-explored territory, and is sure to win over many a well-versed music geek.