Some Are Lakes

iTunes Review

Elizabeth Powell (who also works with Broken Social Scene) has a voice that is alternately brittle and pliant, but always delicate and laden with with emotion: resignation, dismay and a wary hope color her heart-on-sleeve lyrics. The three-piece band (Powell plays guitar and violin) builds songs into fully developed creations with patience and a simple, sure touch. Not to say this is a lightweight indie band; listen to the opener, “Yuppy Flu,” with its cascades of sturdy guitar, symphonic synths, and glittering percussion, and you know there’s some meat here. Some Are Lakes is produced by Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), and you can feel his icy cool aesthetic at play, with a dark mood pervading tracks like the reluctantly soulful “It’s Okay” and the acoustic “Troubled” (recorded in Vernon’s family home in Wisconsin).  “The Man Who Breaks Things” gallops along on a brawny rhythm, with the sounds of a plucky mandolin (or a plucked violin?) giving the tune an otherworldly sepia tone, and “Give Me Back My Heart Attack” has an equally urgent feel, morphing into a cranked up, raging rocker. The summertime lilt of Powell’s vocals on the title track shows a vocalist who could have been a country contender under different circumstances. Some Are Lakes packs a whopping punch, but you don’t know it until it’s over.