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The Weakethans: Not so strong this time around

The Weakerthans get back to the studio and fall short of Reconstruction sites brilliance

The Weakerthans

Reunion Tour

Released on Nov 30, -0001

Reunion Tour is a fitting name for the Weakerthans 4th album - so fitting, that one almost wonders if the band was well aware of the title's irony when they decided to give another album a shot after the long hiatus following 2003's Reconstruction Site.

On this album, The Weakerthans - like most bands of considerable stature who re-emerge after a period of dormancy - seem like they are trying to sound like themselves, but unfortunately the result lacks the emotional resonancy and appeal of their previous work. Civil Twilight and Tournament of Hearts have the mid-tempo guitar "jud-jud-jud" of something off of Left and Leaving, and both hint towards a catchy, yet-uniquely Weakerthans style chorus - except they never come. Sun In an Empty Room reminds me of a more subdued This is a Fire Door Never Leave Open, while the apparent single, Night Windows is more akin to one of the slower songs on Reconstruction Site than something as immediately catchy as Aside. The last few tracks on the album take an abrupt, slower, "experimental" shift, and seem tacked on as an afterthought - though the last track, Utilities, is an enjoyable, mellow number once you get past the overly-long intro.

Part of the problem is the mix done by producer, Daryl Smith - the rhythm guitar is more subdued than on previous albums yet seems to overpower the other guitar parts. There's just something about the songs that sound flat overall, or like there's an extra track to the mix that was accidentally cut out. Whether it's the mix or the music itself, Reunion Tour just doesn't sound very good, overall.

The saving grace of this album, however, is the lyrics. After listening to this album, reading the lyrics, and reading them along with the music, it's obvious that at this point in his life, lead vocalist/guitarist John K. Sampson is better-off trying to establish himself as a poetry or short-story author, than trying to come up with half-decent guitar licks to accompany his clever wordplay. An otherwise awful Relative Surplus Value, with its imagery and tale of a business man's somewhat comical fall from grace, reads like something David Eggers would put his stamp of approval on. Tournament of Hearts evokes Marlon Brando's "I coulda been a contender"-style regret of lost opportunities with the line - "All the championship banners going yellow on the wall/ add my name when it gets closer to last call".

Other topics include Bigfoot, life from the perspective of a cat, moving out of an apartment, and an eulogy to a former hockey player. But despite the seemingly bizarre-but-mundane topics Sampson writes about, he manages to touch upon universal feelings of melancholy and nostalgia in nearly every song, and bring some measure of humanity through into each of the subject, be they through first or third-person. However, The Weakerthans almost completely fail to translate the power and feelings behind these lyrics into their music. Sun In An Empty Room comes the closest, but even that sounds like a mediocre track off anything they've done before.

The good news for Weakerthans fans is that Reunion Tour sounds like a Weakerthans album. The bad news is that it doesn't sound like a very good Weakerthans album.

Posted by Jason Prechtel on Sep 04, 2007 @ 12:00 am