So Many Days
Julie Doiron
I don’t know if I can judge the merit of an album by the Fair Julie of New Brunswick without prejudice. My bias is deep and rooted far back to her beginnings as a 18-year-old member of lo-fi noisemakers Eric’s Trip. And although I feel this album isn’t as strong as her last two—the other parts of the trilogy produced by Rick White—I can’t help loving to hear her voice sing to me the chronicles of her mundane life, which aren’t so different from mine. No one can put their thoughts and emotions out with such simplicity and honesty, as if with every breath her heart is about to fall out of her body. Yet, it’s the symbiosis of contradictory elements that makes her music so remarkable—the optimistic gloom, the mellifluous voice with the reverb on the electric guitar set just high enough to give it an edge. So Many Days is filled with joy and despair, vibes that range from country-tinged to the electric fuzz, and as sweet as Doiron lays it out, she rocks.
-Tricia Roy
[rating:3]
