talk talk talk

Land of Talk‘s arrival on eMusic this past week may have been overshadowed by a certain other group from Montreal, but don’t let too much more time pass before treating yourself to their marvelous Applause Cheer Boo Hiss.

This mini-album appeals to the same part of me that went bananas for Belly and Throwing Muses in the ’90s and currently goes bananas for groups like the Heartless Bastards and the Affair. The guitars are big and mighty, grizzled slabs of sound that suckerpunch again and again. At the center is Elizabeth Powell’s sweet, slinky voice, loaded with mystery and portent. “Speak to Me Bones” is the ideal opening gambit, all build and build and build with no respite or release. “All My Friends” is loose and laid-back, boasting limber guitarwork and a chorus centered around a phrase ill-suited to a family-friendly blog (Give you a hint: it rhymes with “trucking around.”)

Better still: the album is in-and-out in under 30 minutes, making it perfect for high-volume springtime barreling down the highway, windows-down, lungs expanded.