MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: THE GOLDEN SEALS - INCREASE THE SWEETNESS

Whoopie, another great smart pop album, featuring the talents of Ottawa's Dave Merritt. This tight little album is just the kind of stuff I love, having discovered New Wave in my formative college days, and still holding Squeeze in the highest regard. Or if you'd like, a little less edgy version of Sloan, more sugar and less Murphy. A bowl of snap, crackle and McCartney. Shiny Happy People music. You get the picture.

Dude wins my favourite line of the week contest for "Put your wet suit on/we've got important work to do/like raising the titanic mess we've made of me and you" from Wetsuit. But, it also includes the excellent "You were Peaches, I was Herb" (look it up, kids, this is a first-class 70's reference). (Geez, I just looked it up, Wikipedia says Peaches died in 2005.) (No, not THAT Peaches, the one who worked with Feist, this is the one that worked with Herb.) Next on the disc comes the really tip-off Merritt is well-versed in Squeeze, as the 1'33" track Note To Self sounds like a classic East Side Story track, like Someone Else's Heart. It also includes the wonderful "Now's the winter of our discotheque". This stuff makes me smile, and somehow it never gets tiresome over repeated listens.

With nine tracks, only one of them hitting 4 minutes even, and the rest much shorter, the whole disc is just over 26 minutes. How I wish for more, because the guy has gathered all the great tricks I love so much. The harmonies, the melodies, the electric piano and cheesy organ, the smart themes. He takes the term "half life", and turns it into a failed love song. He writes about how he hates July 1st. I can't get enough of this.