''For John'' is the second extended play album from Regina, Saskatchewan indie pop collective

Library Voices Library Voices are a Canadian indie pop band from Regina, Saskatchewan.Zoratti, Jen (July 30, 2009).There's nothing hushed about these Voices... Regina pop ensemble Library Voices is making a big noise with its debut EP, Hunting Ghosts & Other Col ...

. The album was released on June 14, 2014 on the band's own Prairie Shag Recordings. ''For John'' is a radical departure in style and sound for Library Voices. Previous albums featured clean production with a heavy emphasis on

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

, whereas ''For John'' is stripped down, lo-fi guitar rock in style of early FM radio.

About

''For John'' is a tribute to John Farrell, a Buffalo, New York disc jockey and influential supporter of FM album-oriented rock music in the Buffalo area during the 1970s, who died in March 2013. Farrell was an early and avid proponent of Library Voices; he did not drive a car but would take a bus from Buffalo to locations across southern Ontario to see the band perform. On hearing of Farrell's death, the band's lyricist Michael Dawson said that he and songwriter Carl Johnson "instinctively wanted to release some material dedicated to and inspired by John."

Critical and popular reception

Two tracks from the album charted on CBC Radio 3's Top 30: "Windsor Hum" spent three weeks at number one in the winter of 2014, and "John Farrell Buffalo" reached number three and spent several weeks on the chart in the fall of 2014. Noting the radical change from the Library Voices' previous work, Noah Siegel of ''New Canadian Music'' said the album "could be from an entirely different act altogether. Gone are the potent hooks and shimmering, glossy production, swapped for hazy vocals, fuzzy guitars, and a lo-fi sheen" and found that ''For John'' "all works though, still replete with their signature clever lyrics, and as a neat slice of Canadiana rock." ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'''s Peter Sanfilipo found variety in the songs, saying "Like changing frequencies on a wood-paneled broadband radio, the collective jumps from one style to another" and finding that "Each song is catchy and heartfelt".

Track listing

Personnel

* Carl Johnson (lead vocals, guitar) * Michael Dawson (electronics) * Brennan Ross (guitar, vocals) * Eoin Hickey-Cameron (bass guitar) * Paul Gutheil (saxophone, percussion, vocals) * Amanda Scandrett (vocals, keyboards) * Michael Thievin (drums and percussion)

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=30em Library Voices EPs 2014 EPs