Album Review: The Sadies, Colder Streams

The Sadies are easily one, if not the, most underappreciated, unassuming genre-bending groups to ever call Canada home. So it's incredibly bittersweet their new release comes months after the passing of guitarist and singer Dallas Good. Good, who died in February at age 48, was a man of few words. But he and his longtime partners let the music speak for itself. And their latest Colder Streams -- completed before his death -- does the band a tremendous amount of justice.

Whether it's the melodic, trippy "Message To Belial," the leaner, folksier "So Far For So Few," or the groovier "Stop And Start," The Sadies perfect their enigmatic style over these 11 songs. The quartet of Dallas Good, Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky do what they want on the beefier "No One's Listening" which is the antithesis to the preceding gentle mandolin-tinged "All The Good." Meanwhile Belitsky shines on the punk-leaning "Better Yet."

Perhaps the most haunting lines come during "More Alone" with the lyrics: "I paid my respects to a close friend I lost yesterday/I learned to accept that there's nothing that anyone could say." There are no words. Rest in peace Dallas. Long live The Sadies.

Colder Streams was released July 22, 2022 on Dine Alone Records/Yep Roc.
Listen to it here.