(Jagjaguwar)

www.jagjaguwar.com

Expectations are usually (understandably) low when a band goes on hiatus and one of its members releases an album of four-track demo recordings. All too often, the result is a vanity project, a collection of bloated ideas that sound like the shoddily recorded, unformed ideas that they are. There are exceptions, of course, and the Lord Dog Bird's stripped down new album can be counted amongst these exceptional irregularities.

Colin McCann is the guitar player for Wilderness, a vibrant and refreshing band in its own right. In the several years since their last album, McCann's spent his hours laying this collection of mournful, emotional, and sometimes haunting songs to tape. Fans of Wilderness will recognize his guitar playing style, often soaked in reverb and more about texture than individual notes. The sound quality is not terrible by any means, but the songs' lo-fi nature is evident and, in fact, part of the album's charm. Most of the record consists solely of McCann singing and playing guitar, often a simple chord progression and repeated vocal melody. But other times a droning keyboard and some minimal percussion takes the place of six strings ("One Mind"), allowing McCann's layered vocals to stand out. The overall tone is reminiscent of gloomy work like the Cure's Faith, but the strangely spiritual feel and hypnotic revival meeting repetition make The Lord Dog Bird a gospel album of sorts.

Near the record's end, when the first melancholy notes of "March to the Mountain" begin, one becomes aware of just how engaging  and evocative McCann's songwriting is. This is because, not in spite, of the Lord Dog Bird's lo-fi production, and to soften the rough edges of these recordings would be to remove their emotion.

Standout Tracks: "No Security," "March to the Mountain" JONAH FLICKER