After listening to this album, I needed sleep. It wasn’t that The Most Serene Republic’s album exhausted me in any way, but I needed to clear my head before I began to put into words what came to my mind when I listened. As I slept, like most people, I began to dream. The dream involved a TV character from my recent past. “Oh!” my inner voice said. “There’s little Kevin Arnold, from the popular TV series The Wonder Years!” I went further into the dream: “Oh my, Kevin Arnold’s learned to play a number of electronic instruments!” Kevin pointed to me and nodded. “What?! You want me to review your music? Well, I’d have to hear it first, you know, I can’t just cut you a deal because you’re Kevin Arnold, and I feel bad that your brother picks on you, and your dad won’t let you use the car to pick up Winnie so you two can get past first base.” So Kevin opens a laptop, revealing a ProTools set up and releasing an arsenal of pre-recorded drum tracks and samples. “Funny,” I say to myself, thinking how a laptop could exist in the late ‘60s when the smallest computer at the time was the size of a garage able to house two Lincoln Continentals. Disregarding the harsh mistress that is reality, I reminded myself that it was only a dream. Then Kevin started playing, and I felt bad… real bad. I felt bad because his music wasn’t that great, or at least it wasn’t anything to write home about. I didn’t want to tell him, so I just smiled and nodded. But in my head, I knew if I told Kevin: “Kevin, your music sucks, and the show’s going to be cancelled before you can get any play from Winnie” (well, maybe not the last part about nailing Winnie in the back of your dad’s Ford Galaxie). The truth is, I just couldn’t break little Kevin’s heart.

Okay, so maybe I didn’t have this dream. Maybe it was more an association I made while listening to Underwater Cinematographer, which is on Arts & Crafts, a label made famous for both its location in the Great White North and its affiliation with the veritable revolving door band known as Broken Social Scene. After listening to a few of the tracks, I felt an urge to find pictures of these guys. Their cutesy, easy going teenage voices warranted such an action. My thoughts concerning Kevin Arnold were confirmed. The Most Serene Republic are six mostly Ontario natives, barely in their 20s. Their music, as their bio states, reflects “a reminder of what's good about everything that is right now,” while the pictures show the boys and girls having fun, just like the intro to The Wonder Years, where the gang play stickball in the neighborhood street on 8mm film. And yes, staring at their young faces, filled to the brim with summertime joy and wholeheartedness, I felt I would have a hard time writing that the music didn’t make me feel good. Indeed, the fact that they are barely in their 20s and can make sounds that capture “everything that is good right now” is to their credit. However, the song cycle of Underwater Cinematographer lacks the beauty and execution that it would take to make a solid album with a definite musical statement. It’s just that I feel bad about making that statement to adorable little 20 year olds. Perhaps they want to make cutesy pop, is that so wrong? Well, maybe they can get away with it now, but what about when they’re 30, singing about the idyll activities of Canadian teenage life? Perhaps I’m making them cry, I don’t know.

The instrumentation is great on this album. The vocals and lyrics, however, aren’t, and it’s really hard to conjure up the motivation to give this disc a second listen. Furthermore, as an album, the song structure comes apart at times. “King of No One” features acoustic guitars doing a jazzy bossa-nova, whereas every other song has programmed drum tracks, reverse delays, reverb bloops and farts, and other guitar sounds that are all over other indie-rock bands right now. Where did this come from? Once more, Barroom shouting like “I THINK WE ALL KNOW THE WORDS,” as found in “Where Cedar Nouns and Adverbs Walk,” can be neat. Yet a capella shouting on the majority of the tracks of any given album makes the shouting lose its effect. I guess the best way to put it is this: When I read their bio, they already assumed the mood of “capturing everything that is good right now” without really ever capturing it with their music. It’s as if they forced themselves to do it before they wrote and arranged the music on the album, as opposed to working on each song and letting the songs capture something else that they didn’t intend. There’s a lot of talent, and perhaps what these kids need is a little bit more experience, a bit more cynicism, and a bit more edge. When I heard the prologue of the album, I thought I was in for a treat. Perhaps they need to capture whatever mood they were shooting for when they recorded the first track, and try to hold it for an entire album.
www.themostserenerepublic.com
www.arts-crafts.ca

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Trey Perkins

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 Past Constructive Criticism

Daniel posted the following Constructive Criticism: Never have I met someone which has not enjoyed this CD. This CD is something that just makes you incredibly happy. I don't know much about music terminology (You don't have to know about music to enjoy it) so there is no way that I can explain why this music is good, all I can say is that I have enjoyed listening to this CD for the longest time and refuse to put it away, and before this review I was sure that everyone which listened to this CD agreed.

Trey posted the following Constructive Criticism: Ok, to answer a few questions: Conor, I am 22, about to turn 23. Yes, I agree that music should invoke moods, and just because it invokes a mood one could call happiness, doesn't mean it should be written off. As far as music theory, i'm not going to engage in debates about who possesses the proper authority to speak on such things. I did attend music school, and i did take theory classes. I dont feel the need to talk about polyrhythmic arrangements, interesting progressions, and tonality in a music review that the general public is going to read. Furthermore, knowledge of music theory is great, but it doesn't make for a good song. Case in point: Frank Zappa. He's a great composer, but put it on at a party and you'll get dissed faster than someone who lets out a turd siren at the high school prom. Either way, I DO think the arrangement is incredible and what i meant by "song structure falling aparty" is that there are a few noteworthy tracks but not every song is outstanding, and in totality, it falls short. That's what i meant. Regardless, I DO think that there is a ton of potential at work in Most Serene Republic, and i'd be willing to get behind MSR all the way. Thanks for the criticism

boris posted the following Constructive Criticism: im going to have to beg to differ with you. the lyrics and vocals are gorgeous. great music.

Matt Jewett posted the following Constructive Criticism: Whats wrong with happiness? Each time I listen to any given song on the album, it makes me smile, and I fail to see how that is a bad thing. In a world where emo is beginning to dominate (at least it is here in Kingston), an album that reminds us just how fun life can be is incredibly refreshing. And as a side note, I loved King Of No-One

Conor posted the following Constructive Criticism: (To begin I cannot even begin to follow Taylor's comment but I can still give my view.) I am young, I admit it but just so you know I can sit down after a hard day and when I listen to underwater cinematographer I do feel happy. I truly feel that "everything that is good in the world" was just relayed to me via the medium of music. I'll admit you have to try hard sometimes but honestly, sit down one day and forget that you are old. (I assume from your review that you are over your twenties) And try to remember what it felt like when you were a kid without a care in the world.

Taylor Jones posted the following Constructive Criticism: I noticed in your review you ask where "king of no one" came from and noted that it doesn't seem to fit in the album. To answer your question, Ryan wrote the music under the song as a nod to me, a friend of his who plays jazz. Also, I'm curious why you didn't mention anything remotely having to do with musical theory...did you notice the polyrythm, 9/8 time signature, high-pan layering, timbre, or suite structure in some of the songs? Did you listen to the epilogue? Also, I think some of what you said is right on, but can in large part be explained by the influence of a former member's presence. Keep an eye out for their sophomore album (I hear it won't come out for a year or two), because it has a much healthier dose of cynicism and a less happy-go-lucky (or as Ryan would say, "puppy-go-lucky") feel.