Frog Eyes
Album: Pickpocket's Locket
Label: Paper Bag
Tracks: 10
Website: http://paperbagrecords.com/artists/frog-eyes/

After something like eleven previous releases, Canadian indie-rockers Frog Eyes appear set to continue to be a vehicle for the songwriting of Carey Mercer, but this latest offering is less of a concept album and more of a set of almost gently-narrated stories-in-song that make their point quite unobtrusively in comparison.

However, this may be its Achilles heel, for with the oblique nature of its lyrics and Carey's rather curious, frantic and slightly histrionic vocal work, I don't find the album easy to get a handle on, although the nervy instrumental settings (which involve other musicians from the Canadian indie-circuit) can be quite attention-grabbing at times. Aside perhaps from the more considered flow of the final two tracks, especially the finale (Rip Down The Fences That Fence The Garden), I'm not sure of the ground under my feet, as it were.

Having sampled individual tracks before trying to come to grips with the entire album (which is not always my method), I actually found myself less than overwhelmed - and even a touch irritated - by the consistent elusiveness of the end-product; other listeners may well find the whole record more long-term-amenable.

David Kidman