Wide Mouth Mason

The last place to find crunchy, Southern blues rock is Saskatoon. Still, local heavyweights Wide Mouth Mason have been melting the city’s snow with their fiery blend of all things delta for seven years. Their Universal debut and fourth studio output, Shot Down Satellites, simply continues the trend. This is another tightly crisp collection of modern blues, syrupy rock’n’roll and harmonic pop from the Saskatchewan power trio, cohesively rolling through tracks that pay homage to their influences while still sounding uniquely refreshing. While R.L. Burnside and the North Mississippi Allstars are given a run for their money on "Unfolding” and "Really Wrong,” the title track is a concise, effective rock track that Nickelback should take notice to in an effort to uproot their flawed approach to the genre. In addition, the trio throw in ballad-esque pop with "Worse Than Before” and climactic garage rock in "Eleven.” While there is nothing new or highly inventive at work here, both for Wide Mouth Mason and the styles they interpret, it does not matter, because Shot Down Satellites exhibits a triage of friends extremely comfortable in what they do and are damn good at doing it.