''Little Jabs'' is the second full-length studio album by Canadian

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Two Hours Traffic Two Hours Traffic was a Canadian indie rock band, based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. They are named after a line in the prologue to Shakespeare’s ''Romeo and Juliet''. Critics have drawn comparisons to 1970s power pop band Big Star ( ...

, released on

Bumstead Records Bumstead Records was a small record label in Edmonton, Alberta, founded by Larry Wanagas in 1979 and run primarily out of the Edmonton recording studio Homestead Recorders. Wanagas launched k.d. lang's career and continued for 15 years as her lab ...

on July 24, 2007. The album was produced by

Joel Plaskett William Joel MacDonald Plaskett (born April 18, 1975) is a Canadian rock musician and songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was a member of Halifax alternative rock band Thrush Hermit in the 1990s. Plaskett performs in a number of genres ...

, and recorded in Halifax and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. Guitarist Alec O'Hanley explained the ''Little Jabs'' reference: "The title is meant to be about that point in a relationship where you’re more and more curt with one another... And in song, it’s meant to be little blasts—jabs—in these three-minute pop songs."

Reception

The album received generally positive reviews from music critics. Iain Ilich of the ''

Edmonton Journal The ''Edmonton Journal'' is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network. History The ''Journal'' was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as ...

'' wrote that it was the best album he has heard so far this year. Other critics have compared the band favorably to

's own releases, and place the band in the tradition of great Canadian pop, citing the "catchy hooks". One critic correctly predicted in July 2007 that the album would be nominated for a

Polaris Music Prize The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize; the prize was incr ...

in 2008, and ''

Eye Weekly ''Eye Weekly'' was a free weekly newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was owned by Torstar, the parent company of the ''Toronto Star'', and was published by their Star Media Group until its final issue on May 5, 2011. The following ...

'' named it one of the top 20 albums of 2007. The album reached the top ten of ''Chart'' magazine's Canadian College Radio Top 50 Chart. ''Little Jabs'' was named Alternative Rock Recording of the Year at the 2007 Music P.E.I. Awards, as Two Hours Traffic also received the award for Group of the Year. The album was nominated for Recording of the Year, Pop Recording of the Year, and Video of the Year ("Jezebel", directed by

Ron Mann Ronald Mann (born June 13, 1958), credited professionally as Ron Mann, is a Canadian documentary film director. His work includes the films ''Imagine the Sound'' (1981); ''Comic Book Confidential'' (1988); ''Grass'' (1999) and ''Go Further'' ( ...

) at the 2008

East Coast Music Award The East Coast Music Association is a non-profit association that hosts an annual awards ceremony based in Atlantic Canada for music appreciation on the East Coast of Canada. Its mission is to develop, advance and celebrate East Coast Canadian mus ...

s. It won Pop Recording of the Year. The album was a nominee for the

2008 Polaris Music Prize The 2008 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 30, 2008, at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto. The prize was won by Caribou for his album ''Andorra''. Unlike in prior years, the Polaris Prize committee did ...

Promotion

The videos for "Stuck for the Summer" and "Jezebel" are receiving airplay on

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

. Songs from the album have appeared in American television shows ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', '' Happy Endings'', ''

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'', and ''

The O.C. ''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seaso ...

''Van Evra, Jennifer.
Two Hours Traffic Talks Success, Upcoming Tour And Carlos From Mexico
,

CBC Radio 3 CBC Radio 3 is a Canadian digital radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which plays a relatively freeform mix of indie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, folk, country and electronic music. The service, which lanuc ...

, 2008-01-24. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.

Track listing

All songs were written by Two Hours Traffic. # "Nighthawks" # "No Advances" # "Stuck for the Summer" # "Heroes of the Sidewalk" # "Jezebel" # "Backseat Sweetheart" # "Whenever We Finish" # "Stolen Earrings" # "Sure Can Start" # "Heatseeker" # "Arms Akimbo"

Credits

* Two Hours Traffic: **

Liam Corcoran Liam Corcoran (born July 3, 1984) is a Canadian singer-songwriter based in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Formerly the front-man of Two Hours Traffic, he is now an established solo artist. Career Two Hours Traffic Two Hours Traffic w ...

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

** Alec O'Hanley – guitars,

keys Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

, vocals ** Derek Ellis –

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s ** Andrew MacDonald –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, vocals * Guests: **

Rose Cousins A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

– vocals, chatter **

Jenn Grant Jenn Grant (born August 20, 1980) is a Canadian folk pop singer-songwriter based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Career ''Jenn Grant and Goodbye Twentieth Century'' She performed as a musician for a time in her early teens, but stopped due to a bo ...

– vocals, chatter **

Ian McGettigan Ian McGettigan is a Canadian rock musician and producer. He was the bassist and a singer and songwriter for Thrush Hermit. Career McGettigan toured through Canada and the United States with Thrush Hermit. The band released two EPs on Murdereco ...

–

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

Dale Murray Dale Albert Murray (born February 2, 1950) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Career Montreal Expos He was drafted by the Montreal Expos out of Blinn College in Brenham, Texas in the eighteenth round of the 1970 Major League Baseball Dr ...

–

pedal steel The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can p ...

– guitars, vocals, tambourine

Notes

References

External links

Streaming album at TwoHoursTraffic.com
{{Authority control 2007 albums Two Hours Traffic albums