The Details

Combining sleepy alternative rock with some country twang, Lost Art's Canadiana is like an introduction to prairie land for those of us who aren't there. This Winnipeg, MB four-piece bring us 11 songs on this LP, with two of them from their The Original Mark EP, which was released last November as a teaser following their first album in 2007. This time, the Details actually eschewed legendary manager of the Runaways Kim Fowley and Hollywood fame (after meeting him at a past SXSW) and went with Stephen Carroll (of the Weakerthans) and the National's engineer, Brandon Reid, as producers. The result is soothing and clean, but each song tumbles into the next, forming a blanket. Once in a while there's a different guitar solo or paired melodies. The most notable achievement on this album is the storytelling, such as on the melancholy but settled "Weightless in the Dark."