{"id":6417,"date":"2013-02-26T19:26:25","date_gmt":"2013-02-26T19:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=6417"},"modified":"2013-02-26T19:26:25","modified_gmt":"2013-02-26T19:26:25","slug":"luke-lalonde-rhythymnals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2013\/02\/26\/luke-lalonde-rhythymnals\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke Lalonde \u2013 Rhythymnals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"luke<\/a><\/div>\n
Between Born Ruffians\u2019 second and third albums comes Luke Lalonde\u2019s first solo effort, an eccentric mix of songs compiled during the frontman\u2019s downtime. The opening track, \u201cGrande (Rhythymnals),\u201d<\/a> feels like the perfect bridge between Born Ruffians\u2019 analogue charm and Lalonde\u2019s more electronic tracks. A series of angelic voices and intermittent radio blips eases you in before an uplifting acoustic tune takes over, bolstered by chants. Unfortunately, the other side of that bridge never reaches that same creative high. From here, Rhythymnals<\/em> moves mostly between electronic R&B and aimless melancholia. \u201cHate The Night\u201d<\/a> mixes laid-back beats and eerie synths with Lalonde\u2019s croon (think indie Justin Timberlake), while \u201cShove Off\u201d shows the eccentricity of a BR b-side. The catchiest track, \u201cUndone,\u201d romantically joins a sad acoustic verse with an unapologetically poppy chorus, but \u201cRed Wagon\u201d carves out a more satisfying groove with its simple beats and cyclical melody.
\nWith some albums, it\u2019s better to focus on the highlights rather than the whole. While Rhythymnals<\/em>, as an album, doesn\u2019t amaze me, it does deliver a few interesting tunes to tide over BR fans until their upcoming release. And there\u2019s a good chance you will have your interest sparked after hearing one of Lalonde\u2019s radio-friendly tracks. But Rhythmnals<\/em> often loses momentum with unnecessary tangents and glossy electronic effects. Lalonde seems to favor dense layers and structure over atmosphere and groove, so it makes for songs that sound like a handful of good ideas buried under a mountain of sugary editing. At its best, Rhythymnals<\/em> captures the eccentric joy that makes BR the little-big band worth hearing. At its worst, it\u2019s scatterbrained and more than a little self-indulgent. (Paper Bag Records, paperbagrecords.com<\/a>) Matthew Dyck<\/strong><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between Born Ruffians\u2019 second and third albums comes Luke Lalonde\u2019s first solo effort, an eccentric mix of songs compiled during the frontman\u2019s downtime.<\/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":[131,1029],"class_list":["post-6417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-born-ruffians","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6417","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=6417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}