With their third album, Mitten Claps prove that it takes two with Can’t Not. The sibling duo explore the possibilities of their instruments of choice including drums, vocals and guitar.

The album opens with “Moderns,” an earwormy lament with increasingly intricate composition. The themes of the songs pick up where you left the angsty music of your teen years, “your favourite things are waning.”

The stand out track on the album, “First and Last,” is about the comfort of a seemingly lackadaisical relationship. Unlike the relationships in the movies, this one is perfect without all the fireworks because “we always needed less than we wanted and still we had enough.”

The name of the band became much more meaningful listening to this song. The relationship was a muffled celebration, but it does the trick.

The album is beautiful in so many ways, namely the inconsistent rhyming patterns describing the poetic woes of a “30-something.” The album is peppered with words such as “enumeration,” “ephemera” and “antiquated,” proving the album says exactly what it wants without holding back.

This unbridled lyricism is also evident in the sorrowful songs that can evoke intense emotion of hopelessness or hopefulness. Inversely, you could just dance or head bob along to the polished, labyrinthine tunes.

This album is for the matured gloomy teen and, much like wine and cheese, the maturity adds depth and complexity to those feelings we never really got over but rather just learned not to talk about.

-Olivia Michalzchuk

Published in Volume 73, Number 7 of The Uniter (October 25, 2018)