The Vancouver native made his bones in Carl Newman’s (The New Pornographers) A.C. Newman band, but has since branched out on his own, first with 2006’s Heaven Is for Easy Girls, and now with Slimming Mirrors, Flattering Lights. With his own backing band in tow, the singer/songwriter stretches far, but keeps a pretty core.
That stretch can be seen right from the start, with “The Sun Goes Down On Girlsville”, which begins soft and sweet, before getting big and epic, all the while never losing its touch. That kind of change, within not just the record but also within an individual piece is a hallmark of Slimming Mirrors. While the high & pretty to more rock ‘n’ roll of the following “Your Heart Serves Only You” doesn’t work quite as well, it does on the soft & quiet to big & carrying middle track “Only Good Days Caught On Camera”.
Other places, Nelken plays straighter up, like with the fun indie-pop/rock of “Animé Eyes”, or the grand, catchy, sweet indie-pop of “Skeletal Blonde”. Meanwhile, he delivers two strong throwbacks in the old school driving smarm-rock of “Hey Modern School Girl” and the male/female 60’s duet, “True Love On Three With Feeling”. Then there are the three sub-/just over-a-minute-long instrumental bridges, “(Prettier)”, “(Than)” and “(Them)”.
Unfortunately, Slimming Mirrors does weaken in its final third. The stripped and echoing “We Dreamt of Houses” and alt-country wry/sad “I Hurt the Ones That Love Me” are both strong in their emotion, but not quite what Nelken does best. The garage-y “Youth Is a War” lacks weight thanks to its high nature, while finisher “Dandelion” is sweet but too cute and repetitive. In between, “Miniskirt of Christmas Lights” mixes garage-rockabilly and high strings orchestral, but only the former really stands up.
At fifteen tracks, it’s not surprising that Slimming Mirrors, Flattering Lights runs out of steam a bit by its end. There’s more than enough material and styles in it to fill out another band’s whole catalog. And as The Awkward Stage, Nelken doesn’t need any dressing room trickery to make himself look good.
MP3 Stream: "The Sun Goes Down On Girlsville"
– Tom Balfour
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