Sherman Downey - Soulsweeping

Official | Myspace | Buy

I'm going to warn you that I'm on a huge Canadian music streak. I've recently fallen in love with a few Canadian blogs, CBC Radio 3 is always streaming, and it's all just so good. I've been playing this album by Sherman Downey & The Ambiguous Case loudly ever since I stumbled across it on The Broken Speaker.

I hate using the word "fun" to describe music, but this album is exactly that. It is the kind of music I want to turn up loud while cooking dinner, the kind that gets played in the morning just so I can smile despite the darkness and chill of a winter morning. One of the biggest determining factors of fun music is if I can dance around to it in my underwear a la Cameron Diaz in Charlies Angels (if only I looked like that). But seriously, this is underwear dancing worthy especially the songs "Soulsweeping", "Mud Jacket", and "Church Mouse".

In addition to the usual guitar, bass, and drums this Newfoundland band also employs the banjo, accordion, trombone, and mandolin in their musical artillery and they put it all to excellent use. Somehow they manage to avoid a typical bluegrass or folk type label despite the instruments they play. They sway more to a pop beat with charming and relevant stories and lyrics that can induce laughter and smiles aplenty. I'm happy to say this is an album to listen to start to finish and is one you can enjoy without thinking too much about it. It is absolutely worth purchasing, it will warm your heart, have you singing along in no time, and you might even feel like dancing along in your underwear.