Dark Mean – Frankencottage EP
Canadian music has been gaining in popularity over the years, especially in the indie scene. Canadian bands like Arcade Fire, Tokyo Police Club and Islands have been replacing the notion that Canada only produces stuff like Nickelback. But it is especially heartwarming when bands can get that really Canadian sound into their music, and Hamilton’s Dark Mean did that with their EP Frankencottage.
I don’t really know how to put it into words apart from saying the EP sounding Canadian, much the same way a Sam Roberts album does. But Frankencottage’s sound isn’t too much like Sam Roberts, with a sound much closer to Islands or Tokyo Police Club. In the title track of Frankencottage the vocals sound almost identical to that of Dave Monks of Tokyo Police Club. But instead of having that repetitive sound that Tokyo police Club album would have they keep it interesting with every song being able to stand out.
Their ability to make each song stand out is one of the best things about the album, even with the EP only having four songs on it. They also make use of various instruments like banjo and slide guitar as opposed to sticking to the guitar bass drums model. Yet they are good to not overuse them, making sure to only use them when necessary to add power to a song. And this works crazy well for them especially in the track Lullaby where they create a fantastic build up to the climax of the song. The build-ups are also great in the album, with fantastic builds and drops that seem so smooth and natural, which is something that there really isn’t enough of right now.
Overall it is an amazing album, probably one of the best of the year. The best part is you can download the whole album for free as well from their website. I would highly recommend doing that as these guys are absolutely amazing, and it wont be long before you are hearing a lot more about them.
Dark Mean – frankencottage
Dark Mean – Lullaby
Tags: EP