Seven Nations, And now it's come to this (Razor & Tie, 2002)

I like this album, in a pleasant-if-I'm-in-the-mood way, but I don't love it. I would rather see them live -- between Crisco's drumming and Struby's bass guitar, Seven Nations would be a joy to dance to while drowning out this album's weaker points -- the lyrics and standard rock licks. At least on this album, Seven Nations is far more rock than folk. I'm told that live shows are different, but here the main signs of folk influence are bagpipes in the background and an occasional fiddle riff. Perhaps the problem is that this album is entirely original material, rather than combining original and traditional songs. With occasional exceptions, the band's original material is not strong enough to stand well on its own.

My favorite cut on the album is "jump_START" the single track by Dan Stacey. The fiddle tune is reminiscent of Scottish fiddle tunes, distinctively minor-key. In contrast to the rest of the album, this instrumental is folk-rock. The fiddle, drums, bass, pipes, and piano join in, one after another, building from a decorous beginning to a strong rocking danceable tune. My only less-than-delighted comment about this track is that the choices on variations are conservative, as though Stacey is unsure of himself. Changing the key up when adding the pipes may be necessary to accommodate the range of the instrument, but the arrangement feels fairly standard, overall. The pieces are all here, though -- I'd love to hear what he can do when he's feeling daring.

But back to the rock: The rest of the songs were written by Kirk Mcleod, whose voice is expressive and pleasant. I enjoyed the strong bass line in the opening cut, "You'd be mine" as well as the driving rhythms in "Wonderful." Both songs are about relationships, both have lyrics that range from uninspired to insipid.

"The Big Yellow Bus" is more successful. It's a mellow, flowing song about a school crush with a nice rhythm to the chorus "as she rides on the big yellow bus... with me." "Leave it" reminds me of the Ramones, while "My Little Lady" reminds me of nice pop tunes, not quite Beatlesque, with Scott Long on the pipes in the background but mostly driven by the guitar.

"Very nice" has a delightful acoustic guitar intro, and both fiddle and pipe background. It is slower than the others, but I liked it very much.