Shanies: EP of the Year

Alright, I'm the first who's happy to admit when my gut is wrong... especially when it results in one of my favourite bands returning to full form. I had my concerns about this band when they suffered a huge blow by losing half of the amazing female vocal equation that made up their sound. I had even bigger concerns when their drummer, part of the founding duo and the hard stomping drive behind the group, left to start a family.

I had my concerns, but this fall, they were put to rest.

When Little Foot Long Foot released their EP, Woman, my mouth was silenced and my jaw was dropped. Part of the difficulty with LFLF losing both Caitlin Dacey and Isaac Klein was that so much of the sound and pressure now rested on the shoulders of frontwoman Joan Smith. The band did struggle for a little as they settled into their new sound, however, in my opinion, their true transformation was when when Smith was able to step up and own the role... and own it she did.

Woman comes across as an album that stands in opposition. Sonically and lyrically, it seems to represent a backlash to a world, and even a music scene, that has traditionally been a boys game. Though far from being meek, apologetic, or conciliatory, Smith's songs cut through your speakers like this is the way that music has always been and has always supposed to be. It can't have hurt to have The Trews Colin MacDonald producing, but at the end of the day, it was the power trio of LFLF that pushed forward these 5 incredible tracks - each could be a single of it's own on a different day of the week.

In short, one of my favourite Toronto bands is back, in a way that makes me question whether they even left. Maybe it wasn't them... it was me.


-So I've stopped playing games someone else told me to play