Sloan: 12

There aren’t many more consistent active bands than Canadian power-pop heroes Sloan. For nearly 30 years, the same four guys—Chris Murphy, Jay Ferguson, Andrew Scott and Patrick Pentland—have been cranking out two- to five-ish-minute pop songs built solidly out of basic rock ‘n’ roll instrumentation (guitar, bass, drums) and dressed up with memorable vocal melodies. All 11 Sloan albums are at least “pretty good,” while some of them (1994’s Twice Removed and 1996’s One Chord To Another, especially) are terrific.
Sloan is a band of occasional highs and few true lows, which is remarkable considering each of the four members write their songs separately, with each gent taking center stage in turn. Only once since 1992 has a Sloan record not featured at least one song by all four men.
For their 12th album, Sloan decided to go even more democratic than usual: 12 features three songs each from Murphy, Ferguson, Scott and Pentland. The result is their best effort since at least 2008’s Parallel Play, and possibly even since the last century.
A killer opener is a key component of any great Sloan album, and Murphy’s “Spin Our Wheels” qualifies, with its uncomplicated guitars, classic-rock backing vocals and thrilling chorus. It’s no “The Good In Everyone” (track one on One Chord and one of the greatest opening tracks ever), but it’s a big ol’ hook with a sharp barb that’s hard to shake once its sunk in.