Clues

We Say...

Review by Jessica Suarez

There are ghosts lingering over the debut from Montreal's Clues. Fittingly, life after death was a lyrical obsession of Clues' singer/songwriter Alden Penner's previous band, The Unicorns. That project, which he co-fronted with Islands' Nick Thorburn, put out just one beloved album before imploding during an on-stage argument. The two had different ways of dealing with the breakup: Thorburn stayed prolific while Penner stayed quiet, taking odd jobs and writing soundtrack music back in Montreal. While Thorburn's increasing discography could be read as his attempt to put Unicorns firmly in the past, Penner has quietly waited it out, hoping time would create distance.

The waiting's worked for Penner. His quintet, including former Arcade Fire member Brendan Reed (also contending with the ghosts of the past), neither indulges nor entirely exorcises their old bands. Penner and Reed's songs shift quickly, speeding up, slowing down, abandoning sections abruptly only to pick them up again minutes later. These guitar-driven pieces are restless and covered by an all-encompassing pall cast by the gloom in Penner's voice. Ghosts hide inside the fog of rustle and fuzz that permeates the production. On opener "Haarp" Penner sings about "searching for what the eyes cannot see." On "Remember Severed Head," unexplained screeches and echoes happening just off-screen merit investigation. The 20 seconds of building noise that kicks off the record, the lingering note that hangs over "You Have My Eyes Now" and the muffled, softly rendered "Elope", suggest that Penner's grown more patient.

Penner and Reed often sing as though passing on secrets — so many of these songs let syllables ("la la la, do do do," etc) stand in for words. "Perfect Fit" and "Cave Mouth" are sharply rendered, and sound more like the Unicorns than Penner might like them to. The former song seems to address this: "I wear the past as a second skin," claims Penner. The song may begin with Unicorns-esque keyboard chords, but there's new skin visible beneath old wounds.