5/22/11

Sam Roberts Band | Collider A Review


The Montreal indie rock group Sam Roberts Band is set to release their fourth album Collider. This album comes three years after the band’s last effort Love At The End Of The World, which produced the much loved/hated single Them Kids. Sam Roberts Band has been making waves in Canada for about a decade now, their first single Brother Down was a wide spread radio hit and placed the Quebec based band on the forefront of the Montreal music scene. Although, Sam Roberts Band never gained the world wide acclaim seen by another Montreal band, namely Arcade Fire, the Sam Roberts Band has steadily been making music some amazing and some mediocre. To date, their strongest work came with the 2006 album titled Chemical City, which can be best described as a somber love note to the band’s home town of Montreal.

What is new for Sam Roberts Band on the Collider album? Aside from a slight infusion of rhythm and blues, Collider maintains a status quo in terms of quality, but lacks a lot of the imagination heard in the Chemical City album. If anything this album is a highlight real of the more radio friendly singles produced by the band. Collider isn’t an album that fans will be able to listen to from start to finish without having the urge to hit the skip periodically, due to the overly familiar nature of some of the tracks. However, there are a number of great cuts off of this new album that should draw in new listeners and please seasoned fans alike. Tracks like Sang Froid, No Arrows and Partition Blues will no doubt become favorites of many over the summer. 

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