If latest album More Than Any Other Day is anything to go by, Montréal’s Ought do not follow these rules. The band, shaped by the Printemps d’Erable Quebec student general strike (and following months of protest against neo-liberal austerity measures), are definitely not ignorant. However, their music possesses an exuberant earnesty which is maybe at odds with their roots.

And it is this that makes Ought stand out as a band – it would be all too easy for a group interested in/affected by political issues to become an angry protest outfit, but instead they channel things into a much more positve energy. ‘Today, More Than Any Other Day’ opens slowly but builds up into a jubilant celebration of life. I’ll quote at length so you get the idea:

‘Well today, more than any other day, I am excited for the milk of human kindness.
And today, more than any other day, I am excited to go grocery shoppping.
And today, more than any other day I am prepared to make a decision between 2% and whole milk.
And today, more than any other day, I look into the eyes of the old man across from me on the train and say “Hey! Everything is going to be okay!”’

‘The Weather Song’ (listen below) is similarly buoyant: a messy slice of rock ‘n roll with a chorus that would make it a summer radio-hit in any just society. Other songs are more experimental in sound and across the album the band explore different styles, never dwelling on any one too long. Attempts to nail down clear comparisons are difficult. Sure, you could cite Pavement, Sonic Youth, Cap’n Jazz, Gang of Four, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!, etc. etc., but as soon as you pin down an influence for one part of the album, it moves in a different direction, leaving you chasing after it, breathless and delighted.

More Than Any Other Day is to be released by Constellation Records on 29th April, and you can pre-order it here.

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Familial themes have always threaded through Owen albums and L’Ami du Peuple is no different. However, in a ‘real life’ example of Kinsella’s progression, he is now father to two children, and the lyrics have changed accordingly. The pressures on him have shifted, now pressing from a new direction. How long have I been sleeping? he sings on ‘Vivid Dreams’. I’m a dad and my dad’s dead. On an album that is always going to be compared to previous work, this shift in focus and point of view serves almost as a metaphor for his development, a signal that he is charting new territory, as eager to learn as ever.

The album is produced by Neil Strauch, a prolific producer who has worked with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Iron & Wine to Andrew Bird, Ben Weaver and Hot Club de Paris. Kinsella and Strauch worked together throughout a recording process that was spaced across a few months, allowing them to pursue different moods and ideas, pushing songs in direction that would otherwise have not existed. Having a producer adept at different genres seems to help Kinsella, allowing him to explore different influences with the album.

It is the combination of styles that you really take away from the record. Kinsella has plied his trade with bands like Cap’n Jazz, American Football, Joan of Arc and Owls, and Owen has been reserved for his explorations of his singer-songwriter side. L’Ami du Peuple feels like a convergence of the two, with the best bits cherry picked from all of his previous projects to make an album that has surprising diversity and depth.

L’Ami du Peuple is out on the 2nd June on Polyvinyl Records.

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