Taking its title from a pre-game interview with a hockey player after a bad night, Montreal-based Michael Rault's second full-length (and debut, in the U.S., for Daptone's rock-oriented Wick imprint) is a paean to nocturnal renewal, and many of its songs reference sleep.
That's not to say that this album is by any means soporific — quite the contrary. Recording at Daptone studio has given the fledgling singer-songwriter some welcome vitality, boosting up the mid-range; its live-to-tape setup gives an immediacy to Rault's insouciant meld of psychedelic harmonies and willowy melodies.
"I'll Be There" kicks things off with a rollicking, almost funk-like groove before mellowing with the shimmering synths and strings that bathe "New Day Tonight," "Dream Song" and "Pyramid Scheme" with a cosmic, even poignant vibe. Vocally, Rault has grown more assured, and while more mid-tempo guitar-driven, power-pop confections like "Out of the Light" would have been nice, It's A New Day Tonight closes with the seven-minute plus psych-pop treat of "When The Sun Shines," Rault's most ambitious song to date.
For the first Canadian member of their family, Daptone have picked a winner with Michael Rault.
(Sleepless Records)That's not to say that this album is by any means soporific — quite the contrary. Recording at Daptone studio has given the fledgling singer-songwriter some welcome vitality, boosting up the mid-range; its live-to-tape setup gives an immediacy to Rault's insouciant meld of psychedelic harmonies and willowy melodies.
"I'll Be There" kicks things off with a rollicking, almost funk-like groove before mellowing with the shimmering synths and strings that bathe "New Day Tonight," "Dream Song" and "Pyramid Scheme" with a cosmic, even poignant vibe. Vocally, Rault has grown more assured, and while more mid-tempo guitar-driven, power-pop confections like "Out of the Light" would have been nice, It's A New Day Tonight closes with the seven-minute plus psych-pop treat of "When The Sun Shines," Rault's most ambitious song to date.
For the first Canadian member of their family, Daptone have picked a winner with Michael Rault.