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Arts and Culture
Music

Good Music and Kitsilano. Compatible?

Sun Wizard makes a pretty strong case with 'Positively 4th Avenue.'

Alex Hudson 31 Mar 2011TheTyee.ca

Alex Hudson writes for various music publications and runs a blog called Chipped Hip.
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Gettin' real in the wilderness of the Arbutus corridor.

In Vancouver, the words "4th Avenue" have certain connotations. The street is best known for its Kitsilano shopping district, which is home to fashionable sushi restaurants, yuppie clothing boutiques and any number of spas and salons. Its music scene is hardly thriving, as it has none of the pubs or art spaces that line the sidewalks on Main Street or East Hastings. In other words, it's the last place you'd expect an up-and-coming indie rock band to want to associate with.

Sun Wizard isn't your average indie rock band, mind you. This week, the Vancouver four-piece dropped its debut full-length, the Bob Dylan-alluding Positively 4th Avenue. It's a title that's bound to leave a few local scenesters scratching their heads. After all, this is a group that has spent the past few years playing every dive bar and hipster hangout the city has to offer.

But these four dudes are clearly unconcerned with preserving their indie cred. In practically every interview they've done, they speak in glowing terms about radio rock bands like Bryan Adams, Oasis and Coldplay, making no secret of the fact that they hope to score mainstream popularity.

As you'd expect from a band with this list of influences, the 10 tracks on Sun Wizard's LP brim with fist-pumping grooves and catchy singalong choruses. Lead single "World's Got a Handle" kicks off the album with a Fleetwood Mac-style gallop, while the crunchy guitar tone and rasping vocals give it a dose of bar rock grit. The harmonica-assisted "Middle of My Heart" is similarly immediate, evoking Tom Petty with its sunny chord progression and cheery promise, "I'll meet you in the middle of my heart." Elsewhere on the album, the band flirts with folksy acoustic blues ("Too Much on Your Mind") and shaggy southern rock guitar jams ("Sour Note").

In other words, be prepared to check your snobbery at the door, since this is an album for indie kids and minivan-driving dads alike. Fittingly, the band released Positively 4th Avenue through Light Organ Records -- a subsidiary of 604 Records which was co-founded by the alt-rock boogieman himself, Nickelback's Chad Kroeger.

So if you happen to wander into one of the chichi shops on West 4th Avenue, don't be surprised if you hear Sun Wizard playing over the sound system. [Tyee]

Read more: Music

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