The Lovely Feathers Album - Fantasy Of The Lot

Once Canadian indie darlings, the Feathers disappeared after their sophomore album Hind Hind Legs in 2006 due to a band mate falling in love, and other personal issues. They have now returned to a slew of critical acclaim. The album is a solid release with a few pitfalls. The first track on the album is Lowisa, announcing the Lovely Feathers’ glorious return to the indie scene after a brief hiatus. Lowisa is a great song that builds to an explosive climax, describing a man dissatisfied with his life and relationship. Other songs, however, should have gone a bit further. For example, some of the songs take too long to build or never reach their desired path. "Fad" is somewhat dull and drawn out. The song Fantasy of the Lot (the album title) is another song that I waited to build but never went anywhere. It seems as though all the right ingredients for a great song were present: the acoustic guitar and the lead singer's voice were good—but The Feathers stopped short of moving forward with the instrumentals. However, the good songs on this album outweigh the mediocre. Other album highlights include "Gifted Donald:" a collision of synthesizers, guitars, and drums with some twee pop thrown in for good measure. The result is a wonderfully fluid musical concoction. Ossified Homes has a very folk rock vibe. It’s quirky, fun, and has a sense of humor. However my favorite song on the album was Agrotaker: a song that sounds like it was imported from Eastern Europe. The album concludes with an alternate version of "Family Doesn't Know The Game" which I actually prefer to the original version (song 7 on the album). I think it sounds grittier, more haunting, and more passionate when it’s done acoustically. All and all, Fantasy of The Lot is a valiant effort and a decent comeback record.