Since the late ‘90s, Canadian songwriter Emily Haines’ creative output has seen her release solo records as Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton, as a member of baroque pop collective Broken Social Scene, and with indie stalwarts Metric.
As such, it would be reasonable to expect ‘Choir of the Mind’, her first full solo album since 2006’s ‘Knives Don’t Have Your Back’ to be directly aimed at the indie middlebrow - the philosophical space occupied by the movie Garden State. On this occasion, that prejudice is appears to be justified.
Memorable moments include Statuette - a song with a delicately crisp arrangement and bitter lyrics soaked through that blanket of Haines’ breathy delivery: “With a feather in your cap, another jewel in your crown / Another notch in your belt, you’re the captain of the helm / The statuette on your shelf says you’re better than me.”
Siren and Irish Exit are also fine tracks, but they reveal further limitations. The latter song drops in the line: “You’re the guy who always brings the drugs, when nobody wants drugs.” At this point, that lyric is the most interesting one on the album (track 12 of 14), and the effect is to pique our curiosity - where is this song going?
Maybe towards some broader philosophical poetry on the nature of addiction or social pressures? Not really. Haines instead reverts back to that line again for the main hook, leaving the listener a little short-changed. Time and again, this album gets within shooting range of doing something dynamic or risky and drops the ball.
Ultimately, the music here isn’t all that interesting. Even in terms of the vocal arrangements and blend - seemingly the chief creative theme, given the title - the harmonies and phrasing are low on ideas. Also, a word on the production, handled by Haines and her long-time Metric bandmate Jimmy Shaw. It is rare in modern releases that the production sticks out for being pallid, but ‘Choir of the Mind’ is one such album.
Middle-of-the-road songs can offer an opportunity for a producer to enliven a record; to throw ideas around (think Jessie Ware or FKA Twigs). Instead, here we have textures that sound vague and dated, and arrangements fading to obscurity.
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