One Night Band, Way Back Home

With their new album, Way Back Home, Quebecois septet, One Night Band has released a wonderful example of modern rock steady. With consistency and professionalism, the band cops a Slackers-style way of characterizing the sympathetic lowlife to great effect, contributing a compendium of exciting tracks that you can shake your ass to. Singer Alex Giguere rasps his vocals of love and loss over the base of a concisely melodic rhythm section and economical horn section. Particularly cool are instrumental track “Houdini,” which stands on its own as a rock steady track on par with some of the greatest instrumental tracks of reggae history, and the essential “No, No, No,” which epitomizes the superb quality and character of ONB’s contribution to contemporary music. The balance of the raspy, Ruggiero-esque, Giguere and the wonderful clarity of Jaquinthe Michaud, whose limpid tone is reminiscent of the Version City star Selika Drake. Montreal ska is noteworthy for its expression of freedom, and if One Night Band continues to make music as solidly as it have on this, the band’s debut album, fame is sure to follow.