Minor Alps – Get There

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When I got this album, I had no clue what to expect. I just popped it into my car’s CD drive and pressed play. From the first syncopated beat of “Buried Plans,” the opening track, I immediately connected. “Such a loner, hardly bring anyone over I keep everything as quiet as I can,” the first lyric of the song perfectly described my hermit-like studying habits during the cold first weeks of December.

From that point on, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the album, though I quickly understood that for Matthew Caws of Nada Surf fame, and Juliana Hatfield, this was more of an experiment in the kitchen, throwing together a few funky new ingredients, rather than a favourite recipe, with surefire pleasure guaranteed to all who indulge in it. Many people might feel that the album’s relatively risky elements were questionable and dangerous, but that’s exactly what I found intriguing. Here are two well-established, wily veterans of the indie music scene who after honing their craft for more than two decades, decide to join forces and try something different. That itself is worthy of commendation. However, the magnitude of success which they achieved in so doing is relative to the listener. Get There is a light listen, but it maintains a certain brevity and purpose in each song. “Far From the Roses” provides a burst of light and energy amidst a collection of generally low-key harmony driven tracks.

It is worth mentioning just how well Caws and Hatfield’s voices blend, polyphony at its finest, with their voices sometimes indiscernible from one another. Listen to this album if you are prepared to not be a snob about it, and sit back and enjoy two musicians who still care deeply about what they do. (Barsuk Records, barsuk.com) Ben Waldman

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