As an American, I feel it must be said: Canadians get
all the cool stuff: mounties, moose, Tim Horton’s, decent sketch
comedy and Ian Thornley. America’s got, well, Nickelback, and that
was one of Canada’s dregs that they didn’t want.
Thornley is actually one of the biggest things I’d
missed out on for most of my life by not being Canadian, as a
matter of fact. His first band, Big Wreck, was popular and
well-known for their melodic guitar work and addictive hooks. After
Big Wreck broke up, Thornley moved on, and America was finally
introduced to one of Canada’s best-kept secrets.
Thornley’s first album is Come Again, and it
serves as a great introduction to Ian’s work, though it doesn’t
quite live up to Big Wreck’s music. For those who aren’t familiar,
Thornley and Big Wreck sound slightly similar to Nickelback, but
much less…impotent. Where Nickelback produces music primarily for
radio airplay, Thornley does it for the love of the art, and his
sound benefits greatly from it.
The single from Come Again, “So Far So Good,”
is a prime example of this — it’s a track that’ll get time on the
radio because of its catchy hook, but at the same time it’s a
decent song in and of itself. Other standouts include “Keep A Good
Man Down” and “All Comes Out In The Wash,” which is heavy on the
atmosphere.
Actually, there’s not much filler here at all. All 12
songs are generally catchy and the better ones will stick in your
head for weeks afterward. Unless you hate melodic rock bands like
Audioslave and Three Days Grace, you’ll enjoy this disc.
