Halifax's Answer To The Hold Steady
Ron Foley Macdonald

If there's an East Coast CD that's been haunting me all summer, it would have to be the Halifax classic alt-rock quartet The Sorry's marvelous debut album released late in the spring of 2007. Cheekily entitled The Last Clear Thought Before You Fall Backwards, it's an epic 14-song collection that has renewed my faith in the ability of rock-and-roll music to be grandly heroic and endearingly awkward at the same time.

One of the things that distinguishes the disc right off the bat is its unrestrained enthusiasm. Almost every song sports an industrial-strength chorus; there's honest-to-god guitar solos aplenty. It's like the foursome have suddenly forgot all the hallmarks of Halifax indie-rock history: there's no irony or underplaying, or longing for long-lost cabaret styles or folk forms. Instead, there's plenty of upfront passion, outright energy and--to put it frankly--sheer guts.

That's why I love this record so much. It draws a direct line to American alt-rock bands like those lovable '80s losers The Replacements and the current Eastern Seaboard critical darlings The Hold Steady.

The Sorrys make music that never forgets its audience. Each tune seems to be about the everyday experiences of normal people. Sure, there's a quirky humour and sense of detachment on some of the tunes, but every single one is so closely observed that the lyrics seem vivid and lifelike enough that they might have stumbled out of some short story by Ernest Hemingway.

The qualities exuded by the band on the album might come from the fact that like The Hold Steady, these are 'mature' guys who already know the truth of real jobs, careers and adult responsibilities. No wonder lead vocalist Trevor Millett sounds so bemused and exasperated; he sings about a zone dominated by images of adolescent longing which has been mediated by the absurdities and compromises that arise with growing up and growing old.

It's a fascinating tension that runs through the album. And while many of song titles are terse, one-word monikers, they actually hide far more complex ideas. The opening track, for example, Druthers, plays off the quizzical question of what exactly is a 'druther'. The core of the song actually rolls along with a far more immediate pop sentiment of the phrase--repeated over and over--of 'here I am today I'm smiling'. It's an irresistible chorus, full of giddy joy and abandon, tempered only by Millett's enthused, occasional tuneless yelps.

The Sorrys, in fact, seem to be mildly embarrassed by their ability to amass such endless agreeable pop hooks. The album's second song, the minute-and-a-half throwaway True Love, could have been smoothed out into a perfect three-minute pop classic. Instead, they band barrel through it as if they're in too much of a hurry to get on to their next, more serious selection.

When they do settle in for song that lasts more than five minutes--as in the laddish sing-a-long Pass It Around or the album-closing Lords Of Fog Town, the band approaches a late-sixties psychedelic aesthetic that might be a bit beyond their four-piece garage-band approach. Still, the longer songs reveal the band's unbounded ambitions, something that makes the album all the more charming.

With a rock-solid rhythm section in drummer Steve Baur and bassist Richard Herbert and a genuine guitar hero in Jim Cameron--whose playing is one of the sublime pleasures of their premiere album--The Sorry’s have come roaring out of the gate with a debut compact disc that should rocket them to the very forefront of the East Coast Music scene.

For more information about upcoming gigs and album availability, check out www.thesorrys.com.

© Ron Foley Macdonald 2007
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Some of the best music outta Halifax...or anywhere, for that matter.
Imagine a perfect world, where mainstream radio plays silver jews, the replacements, pavement, and shotgun & jaybird back to back on your drive home from work.  A time where thrush hermit never broke up, and their new ablum is coming out next week...   Well the sorrys new single is number 2 on the top seven at seven...and their previous single is the first song asked for on the nine o'clock request show...if only.

This is sturdy music, and at the same time refreshingly new.  On first listen, you think, "wow this is catchy stuff".  Oh but that's just the beginning my friend.  It keeps getting better, it's a grower in the best sense of the word.  It comes down to great songs and there's not a dud in the bunch.

Do yourself a favour and treat yourself to a great listen...and don't forget to share with others...Pass it Around, Motherfucker!
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