The Rural Alberta Advantage — Hometowns

Lo-fi roots-tinged indie rock is what The Rural Alberta Advantage are all about.

The rawness of both the performance and the wonderfully ragged power of the material on Hometowns shines through right from the opening track, "The Ballad Of The RAA."

Alberta native Nils Edenloff's vocals come from the same sonic territory of Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum. There's a raw edge in Edenloff's singing, but this somewhat abrasive tone is softened by the introspective lyrics he sings. Many indie rockers have attempted to match the majesty of Neutral Milk Hotel's In An Aeroplane Over The Sea, and Hometowns comes close by focusing on subject matter close to Edenloff's heart — heartbreak, hometowns and his home province of Alberta.

The band's sound comes into acute focus on "Don't Haunt This Place." It's like the microphone recording the band hovered ghostily from down the hall into the room with the band. The introduction of Amy Cole's harmony vocals on the track adds significantly to the sonic diversity of RRA's material. There's a kinetic pace that infuses the tempo of "Drain The Blood" that acts like a perpetual motion machine, with the song seeming to feed upon itself as the track unfolds.

Woodhands' Paul Banwatt provides a brilliant tempo for this album with his tight pounding of the skins, especially on "Luciana" and "Sleep All Day." The addition of horns and the occasional fiddle helps to broaden the musical palette of Hometowns, but in the end it's the multi-instrumented skill of Edenloff providing both potent guitars (especially on "Edmonton") and keyboards (on "The Air") that are integral to Hometowns.

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