Send "The Rural Alberta Advantage " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 The Rural Alberta Advantage may be a humble, charming trio playing ramshackle folk-rock, but on their sophomore record they face a problem more often associated with gangsta rappers and superheroes: What happens after you've covered the origin story? "The Ballad of the RAA" aside, Hometowns wasn't entirely autobiographical, but whether giving a voice to remote outposts ("Frank, AB", "The Dethbridge in Lethbridge", "Edmonton") or detailing quotidian domestic inertia in "Don't Haunt This Place", the experiences felt deeply embedded within them-- the proverbial record it took a lifetime to write.While Departing can't quite match its bolt-from-the-blue predecessor, it's not for the usual reasons: There are no dubious genre experiments, no interference from a bigger budget, no pressure of serious time constraints. Simply put, the stakes feel lower here, and there's an attendant lack of urgency now that they're no longer struggling to be heard. Strangely enough, Departing sounds more like an augmented solo project than the work of the full-bodied band that toured tirelessly after the self-released Hometowns in 2008. Which is not to say Nils Edenloff isn't a capable quarterback: While the Jeff Mangum comparisons won't be going away any time soon, he works well within the context of the band's sparely arranged acoustic rock, his pointed lyrics and astringent tone hearkening to folk traditions that go back way further than In the Aeroplane Over the Sea....full text |
| Popmatters |
| The cover image that graces the Rural Alberta Advantage’s sophomore album, Departing, is about as iconic in Canadiana as they come: the approaching headlights of a vehicle trying to navigate a road in the middle of a complete white-out. The image is an apt one, as Departing is, at times, about as cold and stark as a Canadian winter, which leads this reviewer a tad bit surprised that the album is dropping when March is coming on like a lion. This is as January a record as it comes, and it is jaw-droppingly stunning in its wintery bluster. If the members of early Wilco and the Arcade Fire got married, Departing would be the natural by-product. One thing about that wedding, though: shotguns are pointed at the heads of all of the parties involved, which is not to imply that the marriage is a forced one, but is meant to suggest that Departing is strictly Hickersterville, which reveals yet another oddity. The trio that forms the Rural Alberta Advantage are actually based out of Toronto, Canada, which is about as urban a city as they come, being the most populous in the nation. It should be said, though, that frontman Nils Edenloff grew up in the oil town of Fort McMurray, Alberta, and it is obvious through both the band name and his stark lyrics that his hometown experiences have definitely shaped him as an artist. Winter holds its steely grip on the bulk of Departing, a companion piece to the 2008 debut Hometowns, with its images of ice breaking to describe the end of a relationship, snow left on winter boots, January cold snaps, and watching the stars in wintertime. Often, all you have are fragments of these images as Edenloff often slurs his words like a drunken Jeff Mangum, with a distinctly nasal whine to his voice that recalls, at times, Bob Dylan. In that sense, Edenloff’s voice is an added instrument, an embellishment that accentuates the depressing, plaintive sound at the soul of the Rural Alberta Advantage. When he wails, you feel a sense of desperation and panic, of almost being lost in a blanket of whiteness as your boot tracks disappear in the powder that’s obliterating your previous steps while the wind shrieks around you with bone-chilling gusts. Departing is rooted in the landscape that makes up the mighty province of Alberta. Two of its songs, “The Breakup” and “Good Night”, are said to be about Fort McMurray, and another (“Barnes’ Yard”) references a city of oil. However, despite being grounded in a particular region of Canada, Departing‘s themes are much more universal . There’s a dramatic arc to the album, as lovers embrace and lose each other repeatedly as the album wears on, giving it a loose concept. Things kick off lazily with “two lovers in a sweet embrace” (“Two Lovers”), sung against a gently strummed acoustic guitar lick, a song that works best sitting beside a fireplace on a deathly freezing evening, hands being rubbed and warmed over the flames. But then, things quickly go off the rails in “The Breakup”. With its pounding drums and a church organ that makes the song almost seem stately, it’s a track that finding our narrator stuck “where summer dies, stuck in the Prairies waiting for the ice”. The contradiction between wanting to be held and being torn apart is rendered in “Under the Knife”, where our narrator pleas that “my love is going to hold you tight” even as he feels he’s being scrutinized for fear of losing the very thing he loves. It’s a picture that will crop up again and again throughout the album: grasping tentatively to that which can be easily lost. “North Star” continues the push-and-pull between being redeemed in love and holding it at arm’s length in Departing’s songs, as the titular object is “leading you back into my heart”, with lonely piano chords plinking away in a desolate, but contradictorily hopeful, manner....full text |
| Hearya |
| There’s probably nothing better to pull me out of review hibernation than the new Rural Alberta Advantage (“RAA”) album, Departing which is scheduled to be officially released on March 1st. Loyal readers of this blog are well aware of the love that we’ve shown this band, and for good reason. Their debut album, the very appropriately titled Hometown, struck a nerve despite going largely unnoticed by a majority of the music-listening public. I thought it was one of the top albums of 2008 (the album was originally self-released in ’08 and then re-released in the U.S. under the Saddle Creek label in 2009). The RAA’s Hear Ya live session remains one of the most popular. After my first listen of Hometown, what immediately struck me was the heart-on-the-shirt sleeve earnestness and honesty of the music. The melodies are well-developed, emotionally-charged and containing a foot-stomping drive helped along by some pulsating percussion. The central theme was hometown (likely lead singer Nils Edenloff’s) with stories of history, folklore, maturation, escape and, in my opinion, sentimental longing for youth. Themes recently perfected by the Arcade Fire masterpiece The Suburbs. Some common music elements are struck on this album, except perhaps that central theme of the debut. Here it appears to be centered much more around relationships than hometown (although a notable exception is perhaps the track, containing the clever little play on words, “Barnes’ Yard”). Some fast paced tempo shows up again on a number of tracks, probably best exemplified by “Stamp,” a track that has gotten some air time on Sirius recently. Even the ironically-titled track “Muscle Relaxants” has a similar pace. I also found it interesting to go back and listen to the live session from ’09 as it now seems clear that the band was beginning to veer slightly in a way that is further developed on this record. Additionally, the first track from the live session, untitled at the time, not surprisingly found its way onto this record and is now named “Coldest Days.”...full text |
The Rural Alberta Advantage lyrics
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