Night Sarari

Night Safari is an odd band for many reasons. For one, they are from Thunder Bay, ON, a city not known for birthing musical greatness. The second oddity is that Night Safari formed in July of 2006. They recorded this self-titled debut by September and, the third fact that adds to the oddness is that it’s surprisingly very good. Considering some of the members are from pristine alternative rock backgrounds — Gaelin Brown and Jean-Paul De Roover played with Vaya (who shared the stage with Simple Plan and Alexisonfire) and Brown also used to front the rock/funk outfit, Kangoskatbot — this album is a little rough around the edges, yet refreshingly so. "We All Lie” is a catchy, vocally exciting track with sparkling guitar jangling, while other tracks showcase classic rock soloing (the wailing bridge in "Echo”), bright synth and poppy melodies ("Tired But True”) or references the familiar build-up/build-down formula ("Alcoholism Prison”). Consistently solid, Night Safari have created a sound easily enjoyable by casual music listeners while adding enough tempo-changes and experimentation to maintain respect from the underground indie rock scene, which is the oddest part of this band: the ability to please everyone!