Ya know there's just something about Canadian indie rock. It's just so vast, epic, and sweeping than it's American counterpart. While us Yanks tend to rock out, the Canadians tend to make this heady brew of artful, thoughtful, and emotionally draining stuff that soars above everything. We Are The City are just the latest in a long line of bands from the Great White North who do this and do this very well. Their album Violent is anything but, but it is a brilliant record that's another notch in Canada’s bed post of excellent bands.
Violent is herky jerky indie rock with obtuse rhythms and disjointed melodies. Think a bit Arcade Fire, Spoon, Modest Mouse and your kind of on the right track. It's got Northwest Indie splattered all over it and it sets them apart from everything making tracks on the east coast. I love the fact that they utilize organ sounds and keyboards on top of all these mathy stop/start jumpy riffs that kind of startle you in unlikely places. It's all very nervous and disjointed but it works because the songs on Violent catch you off guard and constantly surprise you. It's all very algebraic but with a strong sense of melody and place and it makes an impact simply because it all sounds so unpredictable.
Violent is an excellent album and We Are The City are a fantastic band. Their ability to fuse math fueled indie with an artful pop sense is remarkable. They seemingly run each song through a series of equations and come up with something that's complicated but still simple to latch on to. We Are The City have created an excellent angular and flighty record that's as vast as the Canadian frontier and something that is very easy to get lost in. Canada does it again.
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