This Canadian Indie Rock quartet's first record in four years has an electrophile slickness, not to mention a set of catchy songs. Fronted by lead singer and resident rock’n roll hottie Emily Haines, this band had a lot to live up to after their critically acclaimed last album “Live It Out”. So the question going into this album was - were they able to live up to the hype they created for themselves as one of most relevant Indie bands around? And the answer is YES and then some.
The album opener “Help I’m Alive” is an excellent kickoff to a three song stretch that reels the listener into the deeper tracks on Fantasies. Emily Haines’ voice is unadulterated ear candy, her raspy whisper threads the verses wrapped around the golden sweet anthemic choruses that fill this record. The obvious choice for second single “Gimmie Sympathy” has Haines begging the question “Who would you rather be? /The Beatles or the Rolling Stones.”
The closer, “Stadium Love”, kicks the shit out of everything I’ve heard so far this year.
Mixed in between some of the lusher tracks like “Twilight Galaxy” and “Collect Call” are heavy hitters like “Gold, Guns, Girls” and “Satellite Mind”.
Everthing on this album is done to perfection. The guitar riffs are in the right spots and never overstay their welcome. The Synths add depth and layers that I haven’t heard in a very long time.
Start to finish, Fantasies will easily make top ten lists in 2009 for its accessibility, incredibly strong writing, and precision production. It is, and I say this without reservation, simply excellent.
Fantasies is a hell of a lot of fun to listen to and is by far my favorite album of the year so far.
Download these – “Gimmie Sympathy”, “Sick Muse”, “Twilight Galaxy”, “Gold Guns Girls”, “Help, I’m Alive”, “Stadium Love”, “Collect Call”, “Blindness”, “Satellite Mind”.
Rating - 9/10
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