Location:
Canada, Alberta

Category:
Rock

Try if you like:
Dolorean, Great Lake Swimmers, Jason Collett, Phosphorescent, Sufjan Stevens

For Paolo is the latest effort from Calgary’s Woodpigeon, and for it, the listeners get everything they would expect from the harmony-rich band. The flip side to that coin is that they don’t really get anything they wouldn’t expect either.

The record opens and closes with two different versions of the title track. The first is a full instrumental effort and is a typical Woodpigeon tune. An interesting and hypnotizing musical arrangement coupled with the bands trademark vocal harmonies picks up right where their previous effort left off. The acoustic closer, which really doesn’t remain acoustic for very long, is also quite good, though the dynamic of the opener is a bit more memorable. Filling the gap in between those songs are four others, of which ‘By Lamplight’ and ‘One too Many’ are the best. However, none of which really stand up to the title track.

Fans of the band will enjoy For Paolo. It features everything one would expect and the musical quality is on par or better with any of the bands previous work, but it isn’t a step forward.  What was once praised as consistency could now start to push towards a wanting for more – Something Mark Hamilton might need to start thinking about moving forward.