Lakefield
Sounds From the Treeline (Independent)

There’s so much sweetness on Lakefield’s debut that it’s easy to ignore how caustic some of the troupe’s lyrics can be. The boy-girl trade-off vocals that shimmer above the lightly distorted six-strings on emo rocker “Blue Skies”, for instance, lull you into a state of tranquillity up until the point you realize that keyboardist Kate Rossiter is singing about the down and outs of L.A. and its “airbrushed hopefuls shooting pornography.” Frankly, it turns the otherwise heavenly tune into a bit of a downer.

Likewise with “World War Z”, which may or may not be based on author Max Brooks’s fictional zombie epidemic. What starts out as a gentle piano ballad evolves into an epic sing-along about deserting devastated metropolises and high-tailing it toward the hills.

The excellent “Around You” seems a little less dire, if only because the song, which channels delicate indie act Ida, centres on heartbreak instead of the threat of serious physical harm. Gorgeous guitar drones bleed throughout the slow-building soft-rocker before drummer Paul Teehan begins to hammer at his kit for its uplifting finale. “Maybe I can wrap around you tight,” Rossiter optimistically sings with her dove’s coo.

Despite its generally downbeat content, Lakefield still manages to make its music as beautifully cheery as it can. And with the band hinting at war—a zombie war, no less— we’re going to need something like Sounds From the Treeline to keep us in good spirits.