Music Review: Boats - Cannonballs, Cannonballs

Another fruit from the fertile indie grounds of Canada, Winnipeg's Boats ' music is a mix of feel-good indie-pop and quirkiness that often strikes a great balance between the two -- even when it sometimes steps into cartoonish territory.

What controls this balance -- even more than the music itself -- is singer's Mat Klachefsky's vocal performances. Klachefsky has a knack for playing with his vocal strings in a way that gives him a strangely fitting, high-pitched androgynous voice -- although, sometimes, he also does some sort of pirate impersonation or uses his regular vocal output.

This allows the band to change the dynamics of a song on the fly without really having to tone down (or up) the music. The technique works great for songs like the slow-paced 'Chrome Eyelids' (one the record's high points) and 'Summercamp vs. The Fake Moustache'. Sometimes, though, it's taken a bit to the extreme -- especially on the record's faster songs -- a move that yields results that would be right in place as the score for a Looney Tunes cartoon ('Haircuts for Everybody').

Musically, the band's cut from the same cloth as bands like Mock Orange and Chin up, Chin up. The guitar sound borrows its fair share of influence from indie-pop staples like Built to Spill and Modest Mouse; and the synth sounds reflect a love for 80s new wave. Still, some folk undertones and cheerful vocal harmonies are thrown into the mix to give the sound a personality of its own.

In the end, If you look past its sometimes overindulgent wackiness, Cannonballs, Cannonballs is a fine indie-pop record -- the kind that, due to its quirkiness, might take a few listens to grow on you. Who knows, you might even end up enjoying Klachefsky's ocasionally over-the-top vocal excitement.