Editioned Houses finds Lab Coast stretching out ever so slightly. The Calgary basement pop group’s songs are still pretty short, but with small touches like subtle backing vocals (“On the Bus,” “Don’t Wanna See You”) and additional instrumental hooks (e.g., the breezy guitar lead that ends “Better Than Me”), the snappy little pop firecrackers that make up the first half of this tape feel just a bit more spacious than their condensed running times might suggest.
At its best, as on “On the Bus,” Editioned Houses shows that Lab Coast is a band that really understands the “leave ’em wanting more” idea, which makes this rapid succession of pop tracks easy to listen to compulsively. On the B-side, “Clinton St. John” presents a different side of the band entirely, but one that makes sense given its members’ improvisational pedigrees — I wouldn’t be surprised if the shambling side-long instrumental jam was one of many captured on any number of basement rehearsal tapes. So anyways, there you have it: the new Lab Coast, without a single mention of Guided by Voices! Oh, wait....
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