(Arts and Crafts)

www.arts-crafts.ca

Part artsy folkie, part pop tunesmith, Jason Collett moves with ease from acoustic-based ruminations to hip shake-inducing sing-alongs. On Rat A Tat Tat, the follow up to 2008's widely acclaimed Here's To Being Here, he embraces his retro influences, channeling early Dylan one moment and ‘70s AM radio the next, and melds them with his own wry songcraft and a sonic playfulness in an effort to create songs at once familiar and fresh. And in large part he succeeds.

On previous albums, Collett's folk-based material often featured little more than his reedy drawl and an acoustic guitar - which held up well - but here, fuller instrumental textures add dimensions to the songs: a piano and accordion on the melancholy opener "Rave On Sad Songs;" keyboard, a reverb-heavy electric, and layers of ethereal backing vocals on "Cold Blue Halo," one of the album's finest tracks.

On Rat A Tat Tat's rock-pop songs, Collett proves again that the combination of his ear for melody and his insouciant style can make for music that's awfully hard not to like. "Lake Superior" alternates between fuzzed-out guitar stomp and a trippy, swaggering verse while the danceable "Love Is a Dirty Word" breezes along on a staccato bass line and shimmering guitar flourishes. The album's high water mark, though, is "Love Is a Chain," an ebullient slice of infectious pop punctuated with handclaps and horns that gets better with each listen.

Standout Tracks: "Love Is a Chain," "Cold Blue Halo," "Lake Superior" JASON MIDDLEKAUFF