The Cannanes and Steward
Communicating at an Unknown Rate
Yoyo
Steward’s efforts at songwriting often layer skeins of unforgettable melody with warps of overloaded noise and weaves of delicious samples. The Cannanes have been steadily pumping out from-the-heart folksongery from the Australian wildland for as long as I can remember. That the two should not only meet, but collaborate, is an event that I couldn’t have foreseen but can easily appreciate. Whatever it is about either act that could easily turn off a casual listener (Steward’s overwhelming collages, the Cannanes’ sparse and angular songwriting) is present here, but tempered by the other elements in the combination.
The results are tracks like “Clean Forgot,” a fair-paced song which constantly veers between the dissonant and catchy, resulting in something that is uncomfortably likeable – the ghost of a meldoy which I can’t remember seems to run through my head at odd times of night. The opening “Hey Leopard” is a bit more approachable, but still redolent of that Cannanes/Steward magic which puts their music into some sort of twilight pop region. A haunting album, something that lingers and sets roots in your soul.
Yoyo Recordings, P.O. Box 2463, Olympia, WA 98507
