Album Notes

Dan Bryk's "Lovers Leap" was originally released in 2000 by Scratchie Records to critical acclaim and a steadily growing audience appreciative of his classic pop stylings and literate, frequently confessional lyrics. Recorded with a talented cast of Toronto luminaries (including Kurt Swinghammer, Danny Michel, Howie Beck and members of the Supers, Sarah Harmer's and Sarah McLachlan's bands) and mixed by Jim Rondinelli (Sloan, Matthew Sweet, Big Star) Lovers Leap packs a surprising wallop for a so-called "indie-rock" album.

"Gemlike acts of idiosyncratic genius... more proof of just how exaggerated reports of song's demise remain. A minus" -Robert Christgau, Village Voice

"Bryk's songs are bits of shimmering head magic intended for the hyper-aware set" -Magnet

"It's no small feat to simultaneously evoke Randy Newman, Elvis Costello, They Might Be Giants, and Momus, but Canadian songwriter Dan Bryk pulls it off with style and wit. Bryk has three assets that help his classic piano-man style find purchase in this cynical age: A fatally gorgeous and tactfully deployed falsetto, a minutely specific worldview, and a dash of lo-fi indie rockery to deflate accusations of retrofetish... a sparkling pop palimpsest." -Pitchfork

"One of the year's most interesting discoveries, a brilliant pop parcel that blends the real with the surreal, one that's distinctive and different yet infused with rock references" -Amplifier

"A promising artist whose debut album, Lovers Leap, is truly exceptional... his ballads in particular are stunning enough to make conversation stop" -CMJ

"Bryk writes and plays like Randy Newman weaned on Jonathan Richman records... a self deprecating genius" -Dallas Observer

"The Greatest Pop Genius You've Never Heard Of" -Tokyo Metropolis

"Take a Leap, you won't regret it." -Denver Westword