{"id":5941,"date":"2012-12-11T11:09:21","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T17:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=5941"},"modified":"2012-12-11T11:09:21","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T17:09:21","slug":"the-zolas-ancient-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2012\/12\/11\/the-zolas-ancient-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"The Zolas \u2013 Ancient Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This duo out of Vancouver likes to call themselves progressive, but Ancient Mars<\/em> is undoubtedly a pop rock record The Zolas can be proud of. Following their 2009 debut, Tic Toc Tic<\/em>, this sophomore effort is as catchy as it is charming, and should gain a wide following among pop rock fans. Adding to that, it\u2019s heavy focus on post-secondary romance should ensure this album a comfortable place on a number of campus radio stations. I can\u2019t tell you the name of my favourite track because I just can\u2019t decide \u2013 it changes from day to day. And yes, I have been listening to this album in its entirety almost everyday for the past few weeks. Ancient Mars<\/em> just has that enviable quality local wunderkinds, Cannon Bros, achieved with Firecracker\/Cloudglow <\/em>\u2013 too rewarding to let rest for very long, and too engaging to stop halfway through.
\nI wouldn\u2019t compare their sound, though. \u00a0Listeners will more likely hear fleeting wisps of The Shins, New Pornographers, and \u2013 strangely enough \u2013 The Zombies, along with a strong interplay of piano and guitar fleshing out The Zolas\u2019 sound. Of course, this would be an empty list of ingredients without the memorable melodies at this album\u2019s core. Ancient Mars<\/em> is both balanced and well paced with some more straightforward rock songs (\u201cStrange Girl,\u201d<\/a> \u201cEuphrates and Tigris\u201d<\/a>) and tracks that are unassuming upon first listen, then come around to shine as the album\u2019s standouts (\u201cObservatory,\u201d \u201cKnot In My Heart\u201d<\/a>). So at nine songs and one bonus track, Ancient Mars<\/em> is a satisfying ride, but all too brief, and will likely leave many in eager anticipation for Album Three. \u00a0If The Hype Gods are fair this year, we should hear plenty of praise for The Zolas. (Light Organ Records, lightorganrecords.com<\/a>) Matthew Dyck<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This duo out of Vancouver likes to call themselves progressive, but Ancient Mars is undoubtedly a pop rock record The Zolas can be proud of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[453,747,1060],"class_list":["post-5941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-indie","tag-pop","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5941\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}