The Rural Alberta Advantage Departing

• Two Lovers
• The Breakup
• Under the Knife
• Muscle Relaxants
• North Star
• Stamp
• Tornado '87
• Barnes' Yard
• Coldest Days
• Good Night

Downhearted Canadian indie-folkies The Rural Alberta Advantage caught a lot of buzz for their 2008 (by way of 2009 re-release) debut Hometowns. They’re returning in 2011 with a similarly terse album title Departing which “further refines their exuberant guitar work; everything-on-the-table vocals; songwriting full of conviction; the intricate, majestic drumming and keyboard-sprinkled arrangements that won them so many fans around the world.” The album is thematically focused on small towns, Canadian weather, break ups, redemption, and other Mangum-ian elements. That sounds like another dosage of melancholic folk rock to me.

Abstract by Luke Winkie