I was reading a review of The Acorn's Glory Hope Mountain on Drowned In Sound this week, by a UK reviewer who had just discovered Ottawa's best kept secret. He's reveling in the "hidden treasure" aspect of discovering their music throughout the review. I know that's a feeling many music writers have experienced throughout their careers, just as music fans have come to chase the heady high of discovering new music. It's an addictive drug, that new music rush, and the crash and burn if withdrawal when there's no new music around to be heard can be devastatingly painful. And boring.
I was in just such a state these past few days. There hasn't been much that I've found to be blog-worthy, and i just wasn't up to backpedaling and going over music I've already talked about. So I took a breather. Cleared my head. Gave myself some distance from having to write about music, and got back to just enjoying music. Even better, I decided that I was going to listen to some new music, stuff that's been sitting in my inbox for months now that hasn't had a proper airing. Sometimes that's when you find gold, the next big "hit".
I got the jackpot when I gave Mardeen's debut album, Read Less Minds a spin. They're another great East Coast band in the same tradition and vein as Two Hours Traffic, and what a decent little pop masterpiece they've created. These native Cape Bretoners have garnished these 12 tracks with shimmering echoes of Teenage Fanclub and early R.E.M. Though it's just their first album, these guys have been playing together since they were 12 years old, and you can hear their history in their musicianship when they play together. You can feel the connection, and you know it's genuine and its real, and that's not a quality you can put to a lot of music that's out there these days.
Mardeen is Matthew Ellis, Travis Ellis, Jon Pearo and Gary Staple; their debut album, Read Less Minds is out now on Collegen Rock Records.
"Kids"
hype machine : elbo.ws
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