I'm not really too sure what to make of this album.
On first listen it makes practically no real impact at all, but I nevertheless got the feeling there was something hidden that was worth discovering.
A not so streetwise version of Grandaddy was my initial impression.
The awful album cover and unexplained title increase the mystery. What's with the family snapshot of pensioners and what are we supposed to make of the record's title?
A Google search reveals that 'Co-op Mode' is a term used by video gamers when two or more players cooperate and share skills rather than play against other; but that doesn't help much. The five old folks on the cover don't look like dedicated gamers to me!
Maybe it's all ironic. And that would make more sense as the eleven tunes on this album seem to fall into the category of post-pop; that's to say pop that doesn't take itself too seriously.
And, perhaps the collaboration angle would apply to five sharing-caring guys from Winnipeg who make up Royal Canoe.
The quintet describe themselves in self deprecating terms as a "deadly band armed with falsettos, guitars, effects pedals, drums, basses, tambourines, shakers and a five-keyboard deadly weapon".
Their songs have a theatrical quality. Not too many tweaks would be needed to turn them into show tunes. Me Loving Your Money, for example, stars a character cynically sticking with a woman for mercenary reasons. Kasparov is a love song from super computer Deep Blue to chess master Gary Kasparov ("I'm a pawn for your hand / take me gently").
You get the picture? You could easily imagine how these tongue-in-cheek tales of mock tragedy could be rendered as mini stage dramas.
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The promised falsettos feature on The Scissor Sisters-like spoof How Do You Like My Body? and drawing humour from drama is a recurring theme throughout even though the punch lines are often obscure.
But I can't help thinking that, with their sardonic public image and lousy marketing skills, they are selling themselves too short.
The album's best track ,Fabulous Mess, shows that the main song writers (Matt Peters and Nathan Blanchard) are able to write songs that are not just whimsical, but have a real sting in the tail. This song is a superbly drawn study of lost aspirations; the story of a lonely man whose thespian ambitions and cross dressing inclinations are buried in a loveless marriage("whatever came of moving away, to sleep with a writer and star in the play) It also impresses by being able to squeeze the title of an Ancient Greek tragedy, Prometheus Bound, into the lyrics.
It is a song that works so beautifully because the drama is understated and shows genuine compassion for its subject.
Come to think of it, Fabulous Mess would have made a far better album title and they surely could have come up with a better cover image to go with it. The devil is in the details.
Royal Canoe Online
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