The Weakerthans are a band who only have two fans i know besides myself: my friend Dean from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada and Megan, the sister of a girl in my Youth Group, who has really good taste in both literature and music. In some ways, that tells you everything you need to know about John K. Samson and co. - they are enjoyed by Canadians and those with meticulous, discerning ears and a love of words.
To me, the Weakerthans are the best "literate rock" out there - surely blasphemy to fans of the Silver Jews and/or the Mountain Goats. However, the Weakerthans put much more thought into their arrangements, melodies and avoiding general blandness than either the Jews or the Goats do, and in my opinion Samson is the least-grating vocalist of the three (no great feat, as i'm sure many people aren't big fans of his nasal delivery either - but hey, i dig it quite a bit). I first heard the band my senior year in college, as i was going through (literally) dozens of mail crates full of CDs sent to my college radio station, WdSR and i saw the cover for their Reconstruction Site record and thought, "Is that cover art by Marcel Dzama?" (And yes, it was)
That record has been a steady favorite of mine ever since and has an ability unlike many other records to have a new song become my favorite every 6 months or so (right now, it is the title track). So it was with bated breath that i anticipated the release of Reunion Tour.
Mostly gone are the lap steel and organ of the prior record, and in their place are more electric guitars and a little more ambient noise. At first, i was disappointed by this turn of events. However, upon further listens, this record exposes itself as an equally well thought-out arrangement as my beloved Reconstruction Site, just painted with a different set of watercolors.
Part of the reason i really enjoy Samson's lyrics is that, like my favorite lyricist, Frank Black, Samson has no problem telling a tale in his songs - they are not all burning confessions and soul-bearing ballads. Tales of the trans-gendered, of a city bus driver, of a beloved hockey star (c'mon, they're Canadian, did you expect a hockey-free record?), a song about a women's curling championship (again, they're from Winnipeg) and their second track from the perspective of a cat named Virtue are all featured on Reunion Tour - some more gracefully than others. "Elegy for Gump Worsley," the aforementioned hockey-ode is nothing more than spoken word on top of a laid back tune and feels a bit clunky and misguided (it appears as if they REALLY wanted to honor Worsley but had no melodic inspiration so decided, "fuck melody, let's just talk Gump for two and a half minutes").
"Civil Twilight" begins the album with a heavily-effected electric guitar, which continues throughout the song, guiding it to a unique rhythmic pattern that sets the tune apart from many of their other up-tempo songs. Elsewhere, "Bigfoot!" appears to have stolen a title and instrumentation from a Sufjan Stevens song, and along with "Worsley" are the only real gambles that don't deliver.
"Tournament of Hearts," the aforementioned curling song, is so damn catchy that i find the melody popping into my head even while listening to other songs and is easily my favorite track on the album. "Hymn of the Medical Oddity" is the only track that really sounds like it could've been a Reconstruction Site leftover, not in a bad way, and yet the whole album feels like a logical follow-up - albeit in the usually backwards direction of adding electric guitars instead of subtracting them as a band gets older.
I am going to see the Weakerthans in April, and i am interested to see what kind of fans show up. All they all ex-pats from the Great White North? Like Megan, Nicholson Baker aficionados? People reading books between sets (like i do at shows)? What type of music fans don't care if the lyrics don't rhyme most of the time? Are their fans all alcoholics who love the beer/bartender featured in many of their songs? I am thoroughly fascinated - almost as excited to spy the crowd as i am to hear the band live for the first time.
Rating - .91 out of 1.21 Jigowatts.
(a brief explanation of the rating scale, from lowest to highest:
.01
.11
.21
.31
.41
.51
.61
.71
.81
.91
1.01
1.11
1.21)
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