PRE-ORDER: Slough [LP]

Fusing walls of scuffed-up guitars with crystalline atmospherics and honeyed power pop hooks, Kitchener rockers Slough arrive kinetic and fully formed on their self-titled debut. Across seven tracks, the group reveals a distinctive but familiar sound that would not be out of place on the 1990s MuchMusic rotation, indebted as much to the aesthetics of CanCon alternative rock as to the Glasgow school of indie songwriting. It's an accomplished and succinct first statement that wastes no time introducing this exciting act's big, shiny tunes. The album arrives October 30, via Having Fun / We Are Busy Bodies.Standout tracks "Breezin" and "Laid Up" are the best microcosms of the record as a whole. The former is a 60s-90s fusion that recalls Matthew Sweet or The Posies, riding a laid-back, sluggish groove that let's the intricate melodicism of the lead lines and vocals take centre stage before a skronked guitar freak-out dominates the mix. "Laid Up" is the track where the album's indebtedness to the 1990s Halifax Pop Explosion scene really shines through, with echoes of Thrush Hermit, Inbreds, or Smeared-era Sloan. Under all of this is a deceptive amount of jangle. Influences / FFO: Teenage Fanclub, Thrush Hermit, The Breeders, Oasis, The Inbreds, Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies, Limblifter, By Divine Right, JAMC.