Like the scene of a crime carried out by lazy criminals, this album has the fingerprints of some of Canada’s current indie stars all over it. Land of Talk fronted by singer and guitarist Elizabeth Powell return with their sophomore full length album with the help of some friends. The opening title track “Cloak and Cipher” features one of Canada’s best drummers, Loel Campell of Wintersleep, laying down the drumbeats. Jeremy Gara from Arcade Fire played the drums on “Quarry Hymns”. Members of Stars contributed to various tracks. Patrick Watson played piano on “The Hate I Won’t Commit”. It was recorded in the studio of Jace Lasek (the Besnard Lakes) who also contributes on many of the tracks including the string arrangement on “Goal Time Exposure”. While it has all these fingerprints on the album, it is Liz Powell who really shines through on this album. Her vocals have a soft and beautiful tone to them, but still enough of an edge to remind you that you are listening to a rock and roll album and not some disposable soft rock tune. While Broken Social Scene (who Liz has worked with before) may be the poster child for Canadian indie rock, it is Land of Talk who have developed the essential Canadian indie rock album of the summer. This album sounds focused with the guests really bolstering the tracks rather than distracting. When best of lists are made at the end of the year, this album deserves to be on it. “Quarry Hymns” is easily one of the best songs of the summer featuring a steady drumbeat, dynamic vocals, and slick electric guitar strums that attract the listener immediately.
While the music is fabulous on this album, some of the events leading to the album have made it an even greater accomplishment. Liz Powell had to cancel their 2009 tour early in the year after suffering from a hemorrhage vocal polyp. The recovery meant that she had to go for six months without singing. Knowing what she went through and then listening to this album is quite an experience as her vocals sound perfect on Cloak and Cipher. Also, Liz Powell is a musician who is not afraid to voice her feelings on issues, such as her response on Facebook to people downloading a leak of their album while she was living in an apartment with no car and two maxed out credit cards before going out on tour. The band puts all they have into their music, and the result is a beautiful piece of art.
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