By: David Schultz

In an era when many Canadian collectives last just as long as it takes to finish their latest project, the longevity of the Nova Scotian band Sloan truly bears noting. Since forming in 1991, Sloan has remained relatively unknown in the United States while becoming quite renowned in their native country. While sales of their 1994 album Twice Removed, were disappointing in the US, mostly because Geffen Records failed to properly promote it here, Canadians bought it and periodically name it the best Canadian album of all time. After the apathetic Geffen dropped them, Sloan founded Murderecords, their own label, on which they've released their subsequent albums.

Once again finding US distribution through Yep Roc Records, Sloan's latest, Never Hear The End Of It, makes it way to the American marketplace this Tuesday. Sloan packs the album with thirty songs that cover wide ranges of power-pop, echoing George Harrison's post-Beatle solo material. On paper, this seems like it should be a jumbled mess; on record, it's not.

Packed with a plenitude of songs, the album doesn't seem artificially stuffed. Sloan moves quickly through the tunes and seamlessly run many of them into each other without torturing the segues. Although there are relatively few songs that could be termed filler, each has a riff, hook or verse that will stick with you; very few of the songs fail to carry their weight. If anything, once your ears perk up to a song, Sloan finishes it up and moves on to the next.

The four members of Sloan, Chris Murphy, Andrew Scott, Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson, share the songwriting duties, with the result being a variety of different styles, which the veteran rockers make work. They handle bright Sixties-style Brit-Pop on "Who Taught You To Live That" and "Light Years," Ferguson and Pentland offer some thrashy guitar on "HFXNSHC" and match the scorned vibe of "Ill Placed Trust" and Pentland's "Listen To The Radio" could be Canada's version of Coldplay's "Yellow." They're able to toss off some great lines too. In "Someone I Can Be True With," the ideal girl is described as "someone to hear Husker Du with/someone not to watch The View with."

Having mastered the art of power-pop, the best tracks on Never Hear The End Of It, explore Sloan's heavier side. In contrast to the more polished fare, there are occasional short interludes into Eighties-style garage rock, including Chris Murphy's heavy bass rumbling through "I Can't Sleep" and "Something Wrong" with delicious menace. While any thirty track album could do with some trimming, very few of the songs on Sloan's latest die on the vine.

Labels: Canada, Sloan