Said the Whale's third studio album arrives a year after the group landed a Juno Award for New Group of the Year, and the Vancouver-based indie rockers haven't lost their penchant for crafting infectious melodies grafted to lovelorn paeans to the Great White North.
Little Mountain may be a regional affair, but it's hardly exclusive, as evidenced by tracks like "Big Sky, MT" and "Jesse, AR," both of which retain the group's fireside panache while widening the lens a bit. Fueled by
Tyler Bancroft's even tenor and keen ear for quirky melodies, which beg for more than a few
James Mercer (
the Shins) comparisons, especially on the lovely and brooding "2010," and
Ben Worcester's windswept, barroom romanticism, best used on stand-out cuts like "Big Wave Goodbye" and "The Reason,"
Little Mountain's charms may be of the homespun variety, but they're charming nonetheless. ~ James Christopher Monger