What I learned this week: being sick while maintaining a blog stinks.

It’s incredible how a couple of days with a really bad fever can totally throw you out of any and all loops you have going. People always talk about “the” loop, but I’m of the opinion that there are many loops, loops for all sorts of different realities. Some are easier to jump back into than others. Some are more forgiving than others. Some you just hate more than others.

Just a thought. I may still be delirious from fever, so I’ll just move along and sound off the list of my five favourite songs I wrote about in the past week, in order of appearance:

• Sloan - I’m Not A Kid Anymore
• The Young Sinclairs - Cancelled Flight
• Junior Pantherz - On And Off
• Bart Davenport - Miami Afternoon
• Pomegranates - Thunder Island

Remember when Halifax’s bustling indie music scene was so effervescent it was referred to as “the Seattle of the North?” Yeah, the statements’s mooching presskit-ready numbliness was good for a few chuckles, but what made it full-on snicker worthy was the fact that, geographically speaking, Halifax is further down south than Seattle.

Yeah, I realise that the “north” appellation referred more to Canada than to Halifax itself (DUH!), but I still have a matter of contention with it! There is no excuse for mental slovenliness like trying to make us believe that Halifax is up higher than Seattle for the sake of sounding exotic. No wonder our kids suck at geography.

But hey, just because it bugs me, doesn’t mean it bugs everyone. Despite being directly associated with the “movement” I can’t say I have any memory of Sloan being really anal about the situation like I am right now, which is why, I guess, they worked on developing a more-than-fifteen year music career of making influential, compelling music, while I’m here in a basement writing a blog.

Okay, it’s not a basement. I’ll tone down the self-depreciation.

But when you put it in perspective, there’s something mind-blowing about Sloan being around for so long. Has it really been sixteen years since Smeared? Is Chris Murphy really hitting 40 this year? Is Parallel Play really their tenth (yes, tenth!) release? All this jumped at me as I was listening to I’m Not A Kid Anymore, (thanks to Prefix) since, spearheaded by the title, I was looking for signs of slowing down, of losing their touch, of perhaps becoming a pale copy of who they used to be; after all, Genesis had put out Invisble Touch fifteen years after Trespass.

But if you bank on I’m Not A Kid Anymore being a faithful representation of what’s supposed to be expected on their new album, Parallel Play will not only outright refuse to be Sloan’s Invisible Touch, but will also promise that there is still lots more greatness to come. I’m Not A Kid Anymore has all of those super-catchy guitar riffs and that super-smarmy energy which made us fall in love with Sloan’s pop-pillaging ways in the first place. Arranged with an uncomprimising desire to have this song stick to the back of your mind, with all sorts of guitar breaks, piano chords, and handclaps to boot, this punchy, in-and-out powerpop track is no doubt an omen of continued masterful songcraft by everyone’s favourite Seattle Of The Northerners.

MP3: Sloan - I'm Not A Kid Anymore

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