Sloan — Parallel Play

Parallel Play is a psychology term used to describe young children who play side-by-side without interacting. Bassist Chris Murphy, who came up with the title for Sloan's ninth studio effort, says it's a nod to the band's songwriting style. Luckily, the quartet abandoned the experiment they tried on 2006's Never Hear The End Of It, with its 30 tracks coming in at 76 minutes, and have reverted back to their tried and true formula of three songs per person (with drummer Andrew Scott scoring an extra track).

It's an interesting mix from the four songwriters, with Scott delivering the most diversity with a Bob Dylan-esque tune ("Down In The Basement") and a reggae-inspired track ("Too Many"). There are a lot of good songs on here that I keep revisiting, like "All I Am Is All You're Not," "Living The Dream" and "Witch's Wand." But at the same time, Parallel Play is missing those bigger, catchy rock tracks that tend to infect Canadian radio.

Get it from