In This World: Phil Drost

Local singer-songwriter Phil Drost returns with a ray of sunshine for his fifth collection of songs, In This World. It doesn't exactly feel right to be considering this short album in the dead of winter, but it's a fun reminder we're slowly tracking toward spring. Thanks to a clear and minimal production job—mostly Drost’s guitar rhythms with some backing percussion and vocals—these seven songs have a bright feel to them. Overall, it's a cheery sound that resolutely mixes up folky rhythms and bluesy two-steps, and Drost is mostly successful with his stories of friendship, fatherhood, and all the wild spaces you're likely to hike over transitioning between those stages. That kind of earnestness works great for a song like the downtrodden blues of “Dead Tired,” which manages to give off sparks despite the implied weariness, but there's the odd sour note where the songwriter goes too far, like on “I’m a Dog.” I guess this can only be called Canadiana, since it expertly evokes Thunder Bay's particular cold lakes and lush forests as backdrops for songs about the joy—and sometimes pain—of living in this corner of Ontario. Enjoy accordingly.

- Justin Allec