Dog Day — Concentration

Concentration

Outside

Jen White (CHARTattack)

05/08/2009 1:50pm

Listening to Concentration is kind of like staring at those Magic Eye pictures from the '90s. It takes a while for the 3-D image to develop and finally pop out from its background.

The Halifax indie rock quartet's sophomore full-length is all melancholy and dreamy landscapes, yet the tracks also somehow incorporate a looming, gritty tension often bubbling just below the surface of the album's even keel.

The husband and wife duo of singer/guitarist Seth Smith and bassist/singer Nancy Urich do a great job of blending and trading off their boy-girl call-and-response vocals without sounding cheesy or contrived. Urich even takes the lead on a few tracks, including "Neighbour" and the excellent "Rome." Other key tracks include album opener and first single "Happiness" and the poppier "Wait It Out."

There's some good stuff on here, but Concentration lacks the overall raw rock energy of tracks like "Lydia" that made 2007's critically acclaimed Night Group debut so great.

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