It’s curious that Winnipeg quintet The Treble’s press release compares the band’s “musical chops and nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic” to the likes of Neil Young, The Guess Who and The Weakerthans. Curious because musically they couldn’t sound less alike. Opening with the piano-driven title track, these songs absolutely beg to be played on the ads for ABC Family dramas - the cheese oozing so thick my earbuds got stuck in my head holes. Yeah, “Boston” is catchy and formulaic as all heck, and “Overrated” screams Hedley-light, but perfectly clean production (courtesy of CanPop legend Chris Burke-Gaffney) and a Raine Maida for 2013 vocal warble doesn’t mean that you make interesting music. There isn’t a lot of diversity here (mixing acoustic guitars with pianos and changing tempos slightly doesn’t count) and each of these tunes is about 3.5 minutes (the perfect radio length) of schlock pop. I’ve said it a lot, yes, people like mindless, sincere music but we’ve got plenty of it. The Treble has got the chops, but so do a lot of other people. Do something more interesting with your talent.

Published in Volume 68, Number 10 of The Uniter (November 6, 2013)