Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Places by Canoe was initially a real conundrum for me. I didn’t like it at first (it’s not the type of thing I regularly listen to) yet I was so impressed with how well it was done --- conceptualized, written, played, produced --- that I have had to listen to it repeatedly. Canoe --- lead vocalist and guitarist Matt Holland, wife Sofia Holland on violin and keys, brother Carl Holland on bass and vocals, and bud Dave Westhora on drums, as well as the recent addition of Cameron Steieckert --- have formed a music collective, which, surprisingly enough, is called Canoe Music, forging an identity as a haven for artists of the James Taylor/Nick Drake/Paul Simon inclination.

Places is beautifully wrought, an introspective work that for the most part is unplugged --- very unplugged, actually, with good use made of each instrument, particularly Sofia Holland’s violin and Matt Holland’s voice and lyrics. I’m reminded of Phil Ochs’ statement regarding the taking of verbal photographs, particularly on songs such as In City Transit, Ugly Kids, and Journal. Holland has learned, cultivated, and mastered the art of writing song lyrics. Take Ugly Kids. It has a bright, bouncy tempo, but it’s sung from the viewpoint of a guy whose love of his life is marrying someone else. His wish is that she won’t have ugly kids, at least at first. It gets more complicated than that. Actually, let’s add Randy Newman to that Taylor/Drake/Simon list. Oh, and there’s a cover, Holland, 1945 which is so masterfully done and fits in so well with everything else on Places that you could easily be forgiven that this is a Neutral Milk Hotel track.

My tastes these days run more toward Rocket From The Crypt and Guided By Voices, though I’ll take Nick Drake’s FRUIT TREE off the shelf from time to time and listen to it all the way through. I may just put Places up there next to it. It’s not what I normally listen to, but I can’t get it out of my mind. Places may well be 2008’s IN THE AEROPLANE OVER THE SEA. Again, Places is not what I normally listen to, but it has “classic” all over it.