After so many years spent as one of the most popular rock acts in Canada, it might be hard for fans to remember where Sloan started musically and what really contributed to the band's sound. Really, no one can be faulted for that; most of Sloan's popular notice came when they were writing smart alt-pop songs like “The Good In Everyone,” “The Lines You Amend,” “She Says What She Means,” “Money City Maniacs” and “Losing California” – after they had already released an EP and two formative albums. That first music all saw Sloan reaching further musically, but even sampling that material is not taking a sample of where Sloan started. No, at first, Sloan played with a bunch of different sounds which included sampling the sounds of classic pop and rock acts like The Beatles and The Stones, but there was also a healthy dose of college rock from the Seventies and Eighties factored in, which happened to include a bit of hardcore punk. As time wore on, most of the punk inspiration (much of which was brought in by Patrick Pentland and Andrew Scott, according to legend) in Sloan faded and diffused from the band's sound as they focused on other things but, with the band celebrating its twenty-first anniversary this year, it must have seemed like the perfect time for Sloan to look back at some of the music that got them moving back in the day, and pay tribute to those inspirations which might not be so plainly evident. The release of this Hardcore 7'' as well as the accompanying download which features a set of covers does an excellent job of illuminating some of the darkened corners in Sloan's artistic make-up.
Now, even long-time fans might have some trouble getting past the obvious novelty of this set before they hear it, but it won't take long for any and all apprehension to melt away, in listening, because the way this music plays just feels so genuine. First, the seven-inch erupts with a perfectly spontaneous explosion as “Jenny” (which was apparently written by Chris Murphy in 1988 and recorded in 2009 – but went unreleased until now) just slices through listeners' gray matter and leaves them totally shocked by the perfect “in and out like prom night” assault of the song. The way “Jenny” plays is truly mind-boggling; with lyrics which sound perfectly stream-of-consciousness and spontaneous (check out passages like, “Jenny – I won't let you get to me!/ I don't care about the people that you know/ or what they do”), the song stands in perfect opposition to the refined sound that fans have come to expect from Sloan, but that is part of the appeal. At this point, fans expect a certain amount of craft and care taken for the average Sloan song and that's all well and good, but the way “Jenny” just routes out a quick path, gets out and waits for listeners to hurriedly flip the side is exciting. Fans' heads will already be spinning after that and then, when Pentland's “It's In You, It's In Me” (which reportedly took about two years to write – first the music in about five minutes, and then the lyrics two years later) they'll just find themselves cheering, without being able to stop themselves; “It's In You, It's In Me” perfectly straddles the line between punk rock (through the verses) and the swinging sort of pop that Sloan is known for (right there in the chorus), and ultimately just gets listeners smiling because it's just so damned catchy. True, “It's In You, It's In Me” is not the finest crafted song in Sloan's catalogue, but it holds together loosely with the help of feeling like a whole lot of fun.
Equally fun are the cover songs chosen to be included on the download card with the single. Now, the beauty of the songs that Sloan chose to cover is the honesty conveyed by them; unlike the work of other bands who have attempted to do similar “covers” offerings over the last few years (NOFX, The Lemonheads and so on) Sloan's choices don't overtly try to make status symbols of the songs or prove Sloan is really the punk-est band of them all because they're familiar with some really obscure material (although including a song by Montreal's The Nils is unexpected) so much as just really make a good mixtape for both Sloan fans and fans of hardcore. That design is endearing, but particular standouts like “Gimme Sopor” (originally recorded by Angry Samoans), “Fountains” by The Nils, The Descendents' “Catalina,” “Nervous Breakdown” (by Black Flag) and the Circle Jerks' “Wasted” show genuine respect for the music, of course, but even more apparent is the fact that it's possible to hear what inspiration Sloan has actually taken from hardcore; the crunch of the guitars here is comparable to that of the growl buried in the Smeared version of “Underwhelmed,” and it would be easy to draw parallels between the speedy and nervous drive of “G Turns To D” (from One Chord To Another) and a dozen different Angry Samoans songs – some of which are included on this download card. After making such a discovery and connection, it suddenly becomes incredibly easy to understand that hardcore is as important to Sloan's artistic make-up as any of the classic pop and rock influences fans have always more easily ascertained. That understanding is what Sloan fans will love about this hardcore exercise; it lets them get a little closer to the band and gives them a look at something which is clearly important to the band – even if they don't always wear it on their sleeves.
Artist:
www.sloanmusic.com/
www.myspace.com/sloan
www.facebook.com/sloanmusic
www.twitter.com/Sloanmusic
Album:
The hard copies of Sloan's Hardcore 7'' are sold out, but the music remains on sale digitally. Buy it here .
