Effect and Cause’s self-titled EP, a follow-up to last year’s debut Gavroche, is a six-track collection that sounds like it comes from much further south than their hometown of Brandon, Man. While there are some interesting rhythm lines and a few catchy guitar riffs, the band’s best trait is lead singer Katlin Mathison’s appropriately raw yet surprisingly melodious voice. It’s not so much what he says, but how he says it. This isn’t a band winning fans over with their lyrics, but luckily their goal isn’t to whisper poetry in your ear – it’s to hit you with some good-old balls-out “southern rock from the north.” On tracks like Lost – when they actually embrace the foot-stompin’ sound that they only flirt with for most of the other tracks – it works, but it leaves you wishing they did it more often.

Published in Volume 65, Number 7 of The Uniter (October 14, 2010)