Sloan The Double Cross
(Yep Roc Records (US))
In July 2010, Canadian pop-rock band Sloan announced via their Twitter feed that they would be marking their twenty years as a collective with the release of their tenth LP, The Double Cross (XX in Roman numerals). The album was released earlier this month, together with a series of anniversary videos on the band's website, featuring contributions from artists including fellow Canadian's The Dears, actor Jason Schwartzman, and Sebastien Grainger from Death from Above 1979 (who, for no apparent reason, is interviewed whilst in bed and wearing sunglasses). These videos demonstrate that although Sloan have never achieved notable commercial success outside of their native Canada, the band has a strong cult following. And from listening to The Double Cross, it's easy to see why.
In a little over thirty-four minutes, The Double Cross hurtles through twelve very different examples of mature, well-executed pop. The album begins with a punch; catchy opener Follow the Leader, with its offbeat drums, strong melody line and quick chord progressions, could easily welcome comparisons with both Kasabian and Spoon. Follow the Leader quickly develops into The Answer Was You, a bouncy summery love song reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian, but with fuller instrumentation.
And so it continues. In the songs that follow, Sloan incorporate the sounds of country music, Beach Boys-esque harmonies and 80s-style rock riffs to cover an impressive range of pop sub-genres, without ever making the album feel disjointed.
Unfortunately, whilst Sloan's apparent desire to cover as many genres as possible is what makes the album so interesting, it is also their downfall. Many of the tracks aren't given chance to develop properly (there are only two tracks longer than three minutes ten seconds in length), leaving the listener feeling short-changed on more than one occasion. It often seems as though the band is not prepared to develop its ideas into full-length songs, choosing instead to cut them short. Acoustic-guitar based Green Gardens, Cold Montreal is a prime example – a beautiful track, but it ends so unexpectedly that it destroys the atmosphere it has created.
Nonetheless, it's refreshing to see a band that, after twenty years, are still producing pop of such quality and variety, and there are some real gems to treasure here. Fingers crossed, these boys are a long way from resting their guitars just yet.