If you've followed Fond of Tigers since its 2006 release, A Thing to Live With, you're in for a surprise. Sure, Vancouver's seven-member avant-garde meets avant-rock group still serves up experimental, edgy, layered music, but this effort is more approachable than previous released. Rest easy, though, as the raw chaos is still evident in tracks such as the explosive “Soheb,” “Grandad,” and “Sept. 15, 2005,” but this Continent & Western displays a new Fond of Tigers, with a newfound, expanded reach.
Now, with guest vocalist Sandro Perri and the electronic genius of guest Mats Gustafsson, Fond of Tigers has entered new territory. Perri's vocals on Vitamin Meathawk add a lushness to the track, and this lushness, both instrumentally and vocally, is a common thread in Continent & Western. Grounded in JP Carter’s trumpet work, Jesse Zubot’s violin is tied together by bandleader Stephen Lyons’s hypnotic vocals. The CD ender “Upheaval” wraps up the next progression in this Vancouver band’s evolving career.
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