Library Voices were exceedingly popular when their 2011 record, Summer of Lust, was released, but I’m not sure they were ever popular below the Canadian border. And let’s be honest, they’re no Arcade Fire (in terms of popularity). But now they’re making music that feels like Hollerado with a little more balls. Armed with a wider arsenal of sounds and textures, Library Voices sounds like a bigger rock band than ever before on Lovish. And it works for them.
They also sound uniquely Canadian: keenly aware of the voices that came before them in the national soundscape. My wife compared them to U2, which could be a little ambitious, but in the terms of the Vertigo-era of the band, it’s not too wild of a stretch. It might be their big choruses or their riff-y verses, but Library Voices stand to become the new poster for Canadian rock ’n’ roll.
This is the sort of record that sounds like it was birthed in the isolation of the Canadian prairies, but it’s distinctly Canadian because its aware of its context. Maybe you have to live here to understand. But Lovish rocks. And I don’t think it’s getting enough publicity.