Nettwerk

First impressions aren’t everything, but they do set the tone. The opening notes of Great Lake Swimmers’ 2009 release Lost Channels boasted gorgeously crisp, shimmering guitar – and they led to a Polaris Prize-short-listed album. The Canadian crew’s fifth album, New Wild Everywhere, doesn’t fare so well; opener “Think That You Might Be Wrong” enters with a slow, echoing guitar pluck, leading to an album heavy on plodding, moody folk and light on the uplifting glow of Channels. The darker tones here do succeed at times: “The Great Exhale” features beautiful interplay between Tony Dekker’s mournful vocals and Miranda Mulholland’s winding fiddle; “Changes with the Wind” could be a rousing addition to any Decemberists record. But the record’s 13 tracks too often blend together – an hour of pretty, subdued folk that’s over the second it’s over.