Pretty Together

At other points, the disc bears the influence of the widescreen epic pop of the Flaming Lips' Soft Bulletin because the band uses more synthesizers and electronic effects than ever before. Full of smart pop hooks and close harmonies, Pretty Together also shows off the band's characteristic humor and good cheer. Nevertheless, this can also be a pretty dark and lonely place. "The Life of a Working Girl" is a folksy lament for a careerist lover who's too busy for love, and "I Love a Long Goodbye" and the haunting "Are You Giving Me Back My Love?" are powerfully bittersweet songs about relationships gone wrong. Even "It's in Your Eyes," which begins as a straightforward love song with strident guitar riffs, contains barbed lines like "You're too good for this, you don't deserve this" and closes with a ghostly, unsettling vocal part floating somewhere deep in the mix. The optimism expressed in the closing "Your Dreams Have Come True"--which features a delightful trumpet part by guest Bryan Baird--feels very hard won.

Throughout the disc, there's a renewed sense of cohesion and collaboration among Sloan's four songwriters and coproducer Brenndan McGuire. (The last Sloan disc, Between the Bridges, was disparate enough to sound like a set of EPs.) Though Twice Removed is most often cited as Sloan's best disc--and as one of the best Canadian albums ever--Pretty Together tops it in terms of sophistication and sincerity. Now is definitely not the time to give up on rock & roll. --Jason Anderson

Album Description
This is a limited pressing of a few thousand of 'Pretty Together' (Murder Records) sounds as it was made as an effort by the band as a whole and not 4 individual singer/songwriters. Pretty Together shows the band members styles becoming more blurred and with pleasing results. 13 tracks.