reviewed by Michael
Put simply, the debut full-length from Ottawa (now Toronto) duo plays emotional and personal music in disguise.
As a duo, Dave Marcotte (vocals, guitar, pedals) and Marshal Bureau (drums) don’t have the widest range of instruments at their disposal, but they manage to craft beautiful songs with just electric guitars, drums, and the honesty in Marcotte’s lyrics.
The honest lyrics are apparent in almost every song on this ten-song collection. Marcotte sings, one could almost say, with detachment. He almost sounds like a man defeated as he sings songs like “The Worst of Me” where he says “I’m calling from some bar somewhere on Queen Street East/I said I’d been drinking, do you still want to meet?/You said that’s fine you already/Knew you’d get the worst of me.”
Marcotte also makes subjects that might normally sound mundane sound magical. In “Winnebago” (guess what it’s about?) the subtle guitar and steady drums make lyrics like “We can promise anything/There’s drinks on ice in the sink” sound effortlessly poetic.
There is still passion in his lyrics, though, such as “In My Back Pocket” where Marcotte sings “Fuck yes I am serious/And yes I have sobered up/There’s no way we could get caught/You know I hate when you cry/And I can’t do anything right.” The song is like a movie moment where a lover suggests that the two of them run off together into the sunset and never look back.
There are a few points in the album where Marcotte sings passionately, and in the few songs where you hear his voice raise it may even startle you. The songs certainly caught me off-guard on my first listen.
The band’s melodic side shows off in “Inching Closer to Dawn” and “Ribbons,” both purely instrumental tracks. Marcotte and Bureau show that the two of them can pull of a sound that could easily by made by a band twice as large. There are many layers of subtlety in the guitars worth listening for.
The duo has already been on the music scene for a few years, so this debut is unsurprisingly a very polished and wonderful debut. Polyester Heart produces an alt-pop sound to be envied.
Check out what our friend the T.O. Music Snob had to say about it and go to Polyester Heart’s Bandcamp page to listen or download now.
Top Tracks: “Candy, Candy”; “Worst of Me”
Rating: Hunting Call (Excellent) +*swoop*
