With a name like The Rural Alberta Advantage you'd expect the Toronto-based indie rockers to perform traditional folk ballads using standard folk instruments. Well, you'd be half-right. The band's debut album Hometowns has a folk-influenced sound but starting from beat-heavy "The Ballad of the Raa", you get the feeling the band is not quite what you might expect. Sure they use acoustic guitar in some songs but they play with a intensity and energy reminscent of folk punk bands like Defiance, Ohio or Against Me!, the only thing seperating them from the genre are strained shout vocals and anti-something lyrics. Instead you have charming tales of love and love lost augmented by vocal harmonies and stellar string arrangements. Purely nostalgic acoustic tracks like "Rush Apart" are actually a rarity on this album but the driving drumbeats and guitar riffs keep them from changing the album's mood too much. As surprising frantic as the record was, it allows itself to decrease in intensity at just the right moments and is sure to be a good listen regardless of genre taste.
Listen/watch the video of The Rural Alberta Advantage's "Drain the Blood" here:
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