song of the day: april 24/2011

Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree
Album: Soft Airplane [2008]

hailing from calgary, singer/songwriter chad vangaalen creates a delightfully soothing indie rock sound. his airy falsetto is part christopher cross and part thom yorke, and fans of broken social scene, band of horses, and destroyer should find the charm in vangaalen's wild imagination. since 1998, the quirky vangaalen has drafted hundreds of songs well-tailored for indie rock fans old and new. in 2004, the calgary label "flemish eye" gathered some of these songs together for his first album, "infiniheart". 2008's "soft airplane", his third album, was recorded over a two year span. using low fidelity equipment, it is as complex as ever, with all the bells and whistles (sometimes literally) that excessive overdubbing can provide. brushing the textures aside, it's also vangaalen's most straightforward album to date. "soft airplane" is a focused outing; one that rarely travels outside the indie pop realm. boyish vocals and fantastic vocal harmonies tinged with sadness spark the first few songs of the album, namely "willow tree", setting an easygoing and creative mood with organic, banjo and guitar. this style of songwriting works well and his imagination crafts a wonderland of sound during the first half of the record. during the second half of the album, however, the bleeps and bloops of overdubbing begin to take over his songs - almost like he started to run dry and threw effects in to cover weaker material.

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