In-Flight Safety - Vacation Land EP
(self-released)
Luxuriously long, languorous lullabies that'll have alt.country fans creaming in their jeans highlight the debut EP from this Sackville, New Brunswick quartet, winners of Canada's "Best Unsigned Artist" award at the 2003 North by North East music festival in Toronto. Comparisons to Wilco, The Jayhawks and, particularly The Wallflowers, especially on the early candidate for "song of the year," "Somebody's Watching You" will reel you in, and soon you'll fall under the spell of John Mullane's sleepy vocals, which add just the right comfy-chair vibe to tracks like "That Day" and "Lucky Boy." This is the perfect soundtrack to sunsets and long walks on sandy beaches, benefiting from such exquisite flourishes as the xylophone intro to "Somebody's Watching You" and the mellotronish organ fills on "Turn Off." The latter is also noteworthy for Mullane's (perhaps unintentional?) spot-on Sigur Ros imitation, particularly during the song's extended coda.
The only deterrent may be Mullane's tendency to yodel on every song (never more apparent than on "Missing Persons"), but after a while, even this adds to In-Flight Safety's downhome, country charm. While it may give new meaning to the term laid back, "Vacation Land" is someplace you'll want to spend those long winter evenings, snuggling up in front of a warm, crackling fireplace. A stunning debut from Canada's best country rock band since Blue Rodeo.
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