What an odd thing it is to compare other people of the same age to yourself, isn’t it? In my high school, someone a year ahead of me was drafted into the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL. Nationally, the trend becomes bleaker. Lebron James was born over a year after I was… I can barely spit out “necessity” and the winner of the 2004 National Spelling Bee was a 14 year old, spelling “autochthonous”… and if that isn’t the worst of it, I can always look to the Lovely Feathers. The Montreal quartet consists of (3) 23 year olds and (1) 21 year old; not to say that the boys haven’t practiced countless hours, but still, what I wouldn’t give for a little natural ability, y’know.

I dread making the comparison to other Canadian Francophone bands, but I must. The Feathers play a tremendous set of songs along the lines of (….my teeth just clenched…) Wolf Parade; a blend of spastic, outrageous tracks, each of which cling to you a little more than the last. As one can tell, with my simple comparison to Wolf Parade, the band is hard to describe. Let’s try again: “The Only Appalachian” comes off as a version of Sonic Youth that, instead of diverging from noise into melody from time to time, plays the opposite roll by teasing anarchic guitars while retaining its approachable sound. It would be too easy to take a shot, saying something to the extent of the Lovely Feathers sounding like a version of Franz Ferdinand that actually had balls and actually played some solid rock and roll from time to time, but that’s also kind of true. But it would be rude of me to say such a thing so I won’t go there.

On the other hand, could the band be fakes? It is clearly noted that they only started playing in 2004, well after the previously mentioned bands had made it “big” in the scene. I mean, what kind of band plays music that is strictly derivative of the bands that they like to listen to? Don’t most true musicians stop listening to music so as not to be artistically influenced by any outside sources? Well, no—no to all of that. The Lovely Feathers take all of the garage that was spit out after the wave of bands hit earlier this decade and sped it up a bit. They add a load of unconventional tangents and abnormally funny lyrics. But if listening to a faux-chic, neo-hipster band of Canadians that rock isn’t your thing, the Lovely Feathers might not be for you.

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