This third outing from Montreal’s Ian Kelly is pretty slick, kind of timeless and full of tunes that would fit right into CBC Radio 2 Drive’s format. Pulsating choruses fleshed out by keys and strings help Parliament along, while the sparse Your Garden finds the man just strumming away for a few. One could easily say he’s the long lost cousin of Sarah Harmer, but that wouldn’t do Kelly justice completely – not a lot of kids could write a song called Drinking Alone and have it be super upbeat. Chased by the bittersweet Happiness, which has the simplest and sweetest little horn section, Kelly shifts things again, while never losing the poppy tone he’s lined out. Over 13 tracks, the 32-year-old rarely misses, and when he does (on a mellow cover of Billy Idol’s White Wedding) it’s forgivable due to what has just come before. It’s a safe, yet solid disc.

Published in Volume 66, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 15, 2011)