Listen to this song by transplanted Halifax indie-rock champions Sloan.  It’s their brilliantly realized and clunkily-titled stormer “I’ll-Placed Trust” as taken from their superbly ambitious and accessible album Never Hear the End of It.

Of the great batch of songs on this veritable smorgasbord of classic rock-pop that is the Never Hear the End of It album, this one’s my favourite, awash as it is in glam-pop wah-wah pedals and fuzz guitar.  It’s a tricky game when you reference a texture like a wah-wah pedal it seems to me, or when you harken back to a time when rock music was in one of its defining eras – in this case the 1970s.  It’s easy to sound as if that’s what you’re trying to do, which often takes away from the material.

But, Sloan are pros, without really sounding slick at the same time.  As such, this tune more than comes off.  It’s a rocker, a barrage of twisty guitar and throbbing bass.  And the drum sound they’re getting on this sounds like the whole band is ganging up on the drum kit.  Fantastic!

True: I consider Sloan to be a national treasure, one that is celebrated by too few Canadians, not even to mention how few Americans, Brits, and pretty much anywhere else who have showed an interest in rock- pop music over the last forty years.  It’s simple, really.  They write their own stuff among the four of them, and put out solid records one after another.  Also, in their early days as a group they decided not to play what the record company wanted them to play, and started their own label – Murderrecords.  The label still distributes their stuff here, although Yep Roc have signed them and distribute them everywhere else.

For more Sloan, check out sloanmusic.com.

Enjoy!