Hamilton, Ont. alt-rock band Arkells eschew the “alt” tag on album number four, Morning Report.
The steeltown quintet also enlisted four producers, including Tony Hoffer and Joe Chiccarelli, to realize their urban daydreams.
The group has always mixed rock and soul with their “alt” and lead vocalist/guitarist Max Kerman follows the soulman train on the album opener Drakes Dad, a hip hop-based slice of citified soul-rock. It’s a clever piece of story and song that takes a bit of its sonic stomp from Beck’s mix up of soul, blues and trash rock done with sound effects.
Private School echoes this aesthetic of anthemic garage rock with a big beat and gritty production (detectable in Tony Hoffer’s Beck-approved drum sound).
A creative departure for Arkells is the keyboard and texture driven groove of tracks, My Heart’s Always Yours and Savannah. These tracks are the atmospheric flip side to the more hook and beat-driven material on the recording.
As always, Kerman’s vocal is front and centre and he does the material proud, giving mood-milking singers like Adele some competition on songs with heavy melody such as Passenger Seat.
Morning Report is an exciting record because of its creative stretching. Arkells make the most of their producers’ sonic paintbrush and their own songwriting visions, going from blunt hooks to evocative anthems. They’re guided by Kerman’s voice, expressive songs and a genre busting sound search.
– Dean Gordon-Smith is a musician based in Vernon, who reviews the latest music for The Morning Star every Friday.
