With the release of the expanded re-issue of their debut EP Get Bleak, we expressed our hope that more music from Toronto’s Ducks Ltd would soon follow, and look: here’s the full-length album Modern Fiction, with ten new original jangle-pop songs. Tom McGreevy (lead vocal, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Evan Lewis (guitar, bass, drum programming) sound even more confident than before, and that’s completely justified if you know how to write and perform one standout track after the other. The duo is standing on the shoulders of the genre’s pioneers – bands like The Clean, The Chills, The Bats, Television Personalities, and Look Blue Go Purple paved the way – but this record sounds as fresh and clear as possible in 2021 (hence the title – nerd alert – taken from a university course called Gnosticism and Nihilism in Modern Fiction, influenced by Graham Greene novels). Anyway, this is an LP that provides a warm feeling, that more than lives up to my expectations, with melodies to cherish. Labelmates The Beths do backing harmonies on a few songs, and a string quartet can also be heard here and there. Highly recommended for fans of Rolling Blackouts CF.
Modern Fiction is out now digitally, on CD, and vinyl LP through Carpark Records.
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