Mended With Gold

AlbumSep 23 / 201412 songs, 38m 51s
Indie Rock Indie Pop
Noteable

This tight Toronto-based trio know how to assemble anthems. Moving from softly strummed acoustic guitars to full-throated frenzy in the snap of snare—with special credit going to breakneck drummer Paul Banwatt—the band are a dynamic powerhouse with songs that are emotionally raw and direct. They have other speeds (as heard in the melodic folk of “To Be Scared”), but *Mended with Gold* plays to the band’s strengths by delivering one soaring chorus after another, much like on their previous two releases. They follow a musical formula, then transcend it with sincerity and intensity. 

6.9 / 10

The Rural Alberta Advantage's third album doubles down on their secret weapon—drummer Paul Banwatt—and it is, by a wide margin, their boldest and most ambitiously recorded album.

6 / 10

The Toronto trio return with another record of folk-tinged indie rock that pairs intelligence with energy.

7.2 / 10

The Rural Alberta Advantage’s songwriter Nils Edenloff has likely seen Moulin Rouge (who hasn’t?), but you wouldn’t know it…

The third studio album from the big-hearted Canadian indie rock trio, the Saddle Creek-issued Mended with Gold mines the same sonic and emotional terrain as its 2011 Polaris Prize-nominated predecessor, but there's an electricity that runs through the set that suggests the kind of band tightening that can only occur through heavy touring and workshopping.

8 / 10

The Rural Alberta Advantage are the epitome of the scrappy band done good.

5.0 / 10

The Rural Alberta Advantage are best seen live, where their acoustic crescendos and Nils Edenloff's Jeff Mangum-esque vocal acrobatics impress most.

6 / 10

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