Cuff The Duke — Way Down Here

If Cuff The Duke's fourth album, Way Down Here, sounds like Canadian rock in its heyday, it's with good reason. The Oshawa, Ont. quartet recorded the disc in Peterborough, Ont. with Blue Rodeo guitarist Greg Keelor, who co-produced it. The album was also mostly recorded in mono, and was cut live-off-the-floor on tape.

There's an After The Gold Rush vibe on the disc right from the start with leadoff track "You Were Right," which has a lot in common with Young's "Tell Me Why." "It's All A Blur" and "Promises" have the kind of fuzzed-out, virtuosic guitar solos that would make Young proud, and the latter could easily fit on 2007's Sidelines Of The City. "Rockin' Chair" smacks of The Band (who, funny enough, had a song by the same name, though Cuff The Duke's track is not a cover).

Yet despite its obvious influences, Way Down Here doesn't sound overly derivative. It's a refreshing listen in a world filled with Auto-Tune and digital recording where people have forgotten how albums used to be made.

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