Dylan Rysstad
Harbours (Sakamano)

Dylan Rysstad has been reinventing himself at the rate of one album a year since the release of Fortune Teller Miracle Fish in 2008. Now re-established in his hometown of Prince Rupert, he’s well into his back-to-the-roots phase with Harbours, a record that picks up on the work he did with new traditionalist Daniel Romano on last year’s Halfway Houses. That album’s swift kick in the country is echoed here in fiddle-festooned tracks like “If It’s My Lovin’ (That You Want)” or “Two Lovers”, in which Rysstad sounds like he’s trying to out-Bob Nashville Skyline Dylan. “Sparks & Gasoline” might charm the most, with crystalline-voiced Mercedes Taylor stepping outside of her backing duties and into an In Spite of Ourselves–style duet. Portage & Main’s John Sponarski deserves a shout-out for his particularly lovely pedal-steel solo on the same number.

As likable as it is, however, Harbours becomes more interesting when we’re reminded that Rysstad is basically an indie-rock guy who found his way here through garage punk and a stint in Vancouver’s mighty Jolts. If “Matador on Acid” is the requisite reach in the direction of “Cortez the Killer”, a glammy pre-chorus turns it into something better than another young band pretending to be Crazy Horse. And we get the real deal with “Teenage Nights”, a clean, direct, upbeat indie-pop tune that—thanks to its author’s expanding musical vocabulary—is just a little sad around the edges.