hey man don't bring yourself down (Copperspine)

Pender's debut album, hey man don't bring yourself down, invokes a trip across the windswept Prairies. Yes, the band sounds like it's spent a lot of time driving through the wheat fields, perhaps with Oh What a Feeling: A Vital Collection of Canadian Music on the tour-van stereo. Recalling such acts as Blue Rodeo, Bruce Cockburn, Gordon Lightfoot, and, of course, Neil Young, Pender offers up storytelling songs full of thoughtful lyrics and plaintive, distinctly Canuck-sounding vocals. A decent listen, hey man has strength in its uncomplicated earnestness and solid tunesmithery. "Laundry in London" and "fragile" are particularly pretty, but very little else stands out. Like driving through the Prairies, things start to get a bit repetitive after a while–your overall impression will be favourable, but picking out anything memorable is a challenge.