Texting Mackenzie

Despite their frankly awful name, Guelph, ON's Texting Mackenzie manage to pull together a respectable debut EP that combines their youthful energy with some classic indie rock influences. Recorded in just five days, Quoi De Neuf? crams a lot of ideas into just six songs. They start off with some crunchy guitars and the kind of punchy pop tune that was all the rage during the height of the mid-'90s Halifax scene. But then they throw in a couple of wildcards, with the country twang of "Keen Spectrum" (a duet with the O'Darling's Ida Maidstone) and classic rock'n'roll pastiche "RSVP." The resultant sound is a band finding their feet, something that will hopefully be rectified by the time their first album appears next year because currently, their best moments would be stretched far too thin over a full-length.