Catchy melodies are awfully priceless, but there’s something special about songs that are driven by solid lyric writing. The new album from The Weakerthans, Reconstruction Site, is one of those efforts. The Winnipeg-based group has put together a collection of fetching instrumental tracks, but the real treasures are the words that accompany the bouncing power chords and somber acoustic plucks. Lead singer John Samson’s lyrics are refreshingly creative, combining ambitious metaphors with honest, straightforward confessions.
The title track is filled with Samson’s strange, pretty similes: “I broke like a bad joke somebody’s uncle told at a wedding reception in 1972, where a little boy under a table with cake in his hair stared at the grown-up feet as they danced and swayed.” Combining Samson’s pen with the band’s energetic, They Might Be Giants-meets-The Replacements racket, Reconstruction Site is an entertaining record with excellent lyrical depth. Buffalonians will be sure to relate to the bitingly sarcastic “One Great City,” a tale dealing with the endless, graying skies of a town past its prime. “Hospital Vespers” is a noteworthy snippet of a song, coupling reverse cymbal splashes with asylum romance poetry.
After having to endure watching Steven Tyler on VH1, discussing “Janie’s Got A Gun” like it was a Shakespearean sonnet, I’m compelled to toast John Samson with one of his own lines: “I know you might roll your eyes at this, but I’m so glad that you exist.”