The Rural Alberta Advantage — “The Deadroads” — Hometowns
You guys. I’d like to recommend a bandwagon just begging to be jumped on. And with Rural Alberta Advantage’s self-released debut getting a second go-round on Saddle Creek’s dime, joining their still-nascent mob is easy as hell. Oh, you’ll hear the Neutral Milk Hotel comparisons, Nils Edenloff’s rangy voice a dead ringer for Jeff Magnum’s and the ripping, manic instrumentation a close cousin to In The Aeroplane Over The Sea’s tortured acoustics. You might even detect some Yo La Tengo in the subdued organ of cozy tracks like “Sleep All Day,” or the presence Frightened Rabbit’s North American doppelgänger in the sweetly pummeling “Edmonton.” But the pleasures of playing spot-the-similarity are quickly overshadowed by the clean-burning power of the songs themselves, each one a gem, a summer jam, a quick and ruthless ninja that hits you in ten places before you know what’s happening.
