The Heavy Blinkers

This Halifax project went away for a while, but it’s back and it’s beautiful and you missed it even if you didn’t know it. Featuring Jenn Grant, Melanie Stone, Stewart Legere and Sondre Lerche on vocals, the orchestral pop machine of Jason Michael MacIsaac and co. delivers a 16-song set that is a definite cohesive piece. It’s moody (“It Sounds Better Than It Sounds”), hopeful (“Perfect Tourists”) and overall, it’s the most subtle big band record since Broken Social Scene’s <i>You Forgot It In People</i>. Closer “Everything is Magic” kind of sums it up, bringing a wonder and sincerity back to indie pop that’s been missing for the last decade. Fitting, as the track features words written by Mychal Sullivan, age three.

Published in Volume 68, Number 2 of The Uniter (September 11, 2013)

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