Rae Spoon

It’s been two years since Rae Spoon released a record but it’s been well worth the wait. Every minute the Calgary musician spent on SuperiorYouAreInferior seems to have translated into hours and hours of unmitigated passion packed into each hovering chord and wavering note. Spoon wandered away from his country music niche in order to dabble in a folkier electronic genre and ended up composing one of the most beautiful, priceless albums released this year. Lyrically, each song winds in and out of Canada’s landscape, history and culture. "Great Lakes” reminds us that all looming entities are also inferior to something greater. "My Heart Is A Piece Of Garbage. Fight Seagulls. Fight!” narrates some of Alberta’s weaker links, like useless trucks and an abundance of oil money. Then there’s the gem "Come On Forest Fire Burn The Disco Down,” which reminds us that colonialism is still with us today even though it’s a part of the past. Unfortunately, listening to SuperiorYouAreInferior will turn you into a nuisance — within no time, your friends are going to label you as "that person” who won’t shut up about "the amazing Rae Spoon record.”