What cements Sloan as perhaps the most Canadian band ever is their accessibility. While legends like the Band and the Tragically Hip will always carry an aura of distance, Sloan feel just a few degrees removed from virtually every corner of the country: they've played nearly everyone's hometown, no matter how remote, and as far as anyone knows, not one of the four "Canadian Beatles" has ever turned down a selfie request.With their 14th studio album, Based on the Best Seller, the Halifax icons finally deliver a collection of songs that perfectly match their approachable, every-band ethos. Riffing on the movie poster-inspired album artwork, the first three singles (and clear album highlights) — the wonderfully syrupy Chris Murphy and Jay Ferguson duet "Live Forever"; Patrick Pentland's chunky, anthemic "Dream Destroyer"; and "No Damn Fears," one of two quirky Andrew Scott contributions — are also accompanied by 30-second faux movie trailers.Recorded in their adopted hometown of Toronto with longtime producer Ryan Haslett, who has helmed the band's last five albums, much of the record sounds instantly familiar — and, at times, a touch too comfy. Yet, the few songs that rise above on this 12-track, 38-minute album rank among the band's most idiosyncratic recordings of their career.Although the yearning Ferguson-led opener "Capitol Cooler" and its late-tracklist counterpart "Collect Yourself" lack the twists and turns of "The Good in Everyone" with their peak-Sloan tambourines and call-and-response, and Scott's spittoon-chugging "Baxter" doesn't quite reach the grit of "Sinking Ships," they luckily still carry their share of personality and witticisms. "Open Your Umbrellas," one of Murphy's four contributions, is an eccentrically bluesy, piano-driven track highlighted by the striking lyric, "Children are slathered in SPF / So they'll go up in flames."Ferguson's "Congratulations," meanwhile, leans on a vibrating Stereolab-inspired start-and-stop melody. Pentland's "So Far Down," a sleek nod to 1970s AM CanRock, actually feels out of place for its straightforward simplicity, while Murphy's horn-laden "Fortune Teller" stumbles in its attempt to recapture the swing of "Everything You've Done Wrong." However, the quartet land the plane with the sticky chorus of Pentland's acoustic-led "Here We Go Again" and Murphy's crooning closer, "I Already Know," wrapping up the record in its only truly predictable moments.For the most part, Based on the Best Seller feels like a revitalized bunch of friends cutting loose and having a blast. The wheel hasn't been reinvented, but you get all the inside jokes because they're your friends — and you're just happy to have been invited along for the ride.
Wavelength
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