Let me give a little bit of context: Positive Thinking is a garage record that reminds me of White Stripes, but also Wolfmother. And the guitar fuzz, as well as the pre-chorus melody, remind me of one of the tracks from Wolfmother’s debut album.

When the pre-chorus comes in on “Yes, I Know”, my brain fills in the next blank from the memory of the Wolfmother song. The chorus I expect is the logical choice for a garage rock band to make; it would be a return to the key’s first note — the song’s pulse.

But The Pack A.D. go the opposite way, leaving the song in unresolved tension — and completely surprising me.

That whole scenario happens seemingly countless times on Positive Thinking: I’ll recognize the influence, I’ll know what comes next based on my expectations, and then The Pack A.D. does something else — every time. Whether it’s “Yes, I Know”, or the Misfits-influenced “Teenage Crime”, or even the Hives-influenced “Los Angeles”, the duo continues to sidestep my expectations.

If you don’t know The Pack A.D. very well, you might be surprised to find out the band has just two members: a drummer and guitarist/singer. They make a raucous amount of noise for two people, sounding much larger than they are. That’s one of the things they’re known for.

They’re also known for their energetic live shows, which you can tell Positive Thinking has been made for. With rare exception, these songs are loaded with punk-like attitudes that work well on the stage.

But even when the band isn’t playing punk-inspired garage rock, they manage to reset my expectations. On “Gold Eyes”, which sounds like a Rah Rah song (and betrays The Pack A.D.’s Canadian origins by association), they manage to beat my expectations every time by adding in a dash of energy just when I don’t expect it.

The jury’s out, though, on whether or not Positive Thinking is The Pack A.D.’s best record. It doesn’t matter, though: six albums in, The Pack A.D. is a completely different band from how they started, and it feels like they’ve fully embraced the alt-rock sound and more or less ditched their blues influence altogether.

But despite the fact that their influences continue to remain obvious, The Pack A.D. are getting better at creating a sound all of their own. Positive Thinking is many things, but I can’t count the number of times it flat-out surprised me. While they continue to cobble together their sound from a number of somewhat unsurprising places, The Pack A.D. have pulled together a surprisingly unique sound all of their own. Positive Thinking is their most definitive statement yet.

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Listen to Malleable Beings. If you want to be taken to another place, one far away from the world of work and responsibilities, and one where you can just be, I dare you to find a song better than this. This whole album is like a dream.

Some of the songs are reminiscent of great bands. Listen to A Lesson From Mr. Gray — the song reminds me so much of vintage U2 that it’s uncanny. I’m absolutely in love with the whole thing. Young is also a fantastic song with a really catchy chorus. It reminds me a bit of Simon And Garfunkel, as far as its dynamics go. When Christina, the female singer, is given the lead on songs like Cold Kind Hand, the album takes on a whole different twist.

Despite its laid back nature, States is filled with variety. Personally, in the later half of the album, I’m a sucker for Tenenbaum. This group is really enjoyable. States is the first record from The Paper Kites, and I can’t wait to see what else they come up with.

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Great. Now that you’re back, let me ask you a question. Why haven’t you heard of The Submarines before? I already know your answer: you don’t know. And neither do I.

If you think that The Submarines might only have one good song, I challenge you to listen to Fire, which is only the second track on the album after Shoelaces, and tell me it’s not good. That’s pretty much how this record goes. The whole thing, from top to bottom, is a joy.

I’d love to write about every track on this album, but that would be unspeakably cruel to you as a reader. You’ve got to hear a few of these though. The Sun Shines at Night has one of those catchy choruses where everybody shouts instead of singing, and it works really well. It’s a great song about falling in love. I don’t mean that in a cheesy, overly-sentimental way. It’s just fun. But my favourite track comes right after that.

Listen to Birds. This song is so catchy that I could fall asleep and wake up to it without a problem. When they sing, “What if everything’s alright?”, I feel like I’m being pick up off the ground. It is alright. That’s everything I ever want to hear. If you want to listen to one track from this one and then move on, make it that one.

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