K.C. Accidental

A re-release of the debut recording from Kevin Drew (who went on to co-form Broken Social Scene) and Charles Spearin (a founding member of Do Make Say Think) that was originally recorded in 1997 — quite some time before either of them would gain international recognition with their current projects. Most of the album’s six songs find a tonal centre much closer to Do Make Say Think’s avant-garde jazz fusions, but Drew’s contributions are still palpable, adding an unrefined immediacy to the album’s best tracks, "Anorexic He-Man” and "Nancy and the Girdle Boy.” The record only really falters with jovial answering machine filler (although the cut-off acoustic version of "Stairway to Heaven” during the cut gives the album a welcome break from its stern, artsy feel) and the ambient piece "Save the Last Breath,” which gallivants around a style Spearin has since been able to meliorate with DMST. Though the latter half of the album isn’t able to grow on the promise of its first three tracks, Captured Anthems is nevertheless an interesting look into the formative years of two enormously talented Toronto musicians who have both gone on to surpass these ambitious beginnings.