Thornley — Tiny Pictures

Tiny Pictures

604/Universal

Sheena Lyonnais (CHARTattack)

02/10/2009 10:53am

Tiny Pictures is a pretty solid alt.rock record. Most of the songs sound fit for radio, possibly partly in thanks to the godlike hand of Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger and his 604 Records.

"Changes" is a guilty pleasure track, mostly because the lyrics are a little hillbilly and way more relatable than most of us would like to admit ("I've sipped red wine from a Dixie cup and I can't change.") Dixie cup, plastic cup, water bottle — we've all done it once or twice.

"Make Believe" emits a tremendous amount of anxiety, which may be why it was chosen as the first single, but it's hardly the album's best track. "Better Side Of Me" and "Man Overboard" are equal contenders as standouts, though any track would do well as a rock single.

There's a fair amount of variety on this album, since there's everything from chunky rock guitars to country and blues, but it stays very true to frontman Ian Thornley, who stays very true to Big Wreck. It's a very honest record that spends a lot of time in self-reflection without sounding whiney or pretentious.

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