The Constantines have always come across as a hard-working outfit, but on the 12-track Kensington Heights, they seem for the first time to be working far too hard for it. The fourth LP from this gritty Toronto five-piece offers a few genuine gems sprinkled among many more tracks borne out of blue-collar blood, sweat and tears. “Hard Feelings,” a headstrong rush of rhythmic experimentation that sounds like a thousand coiled springs let loose in succession, launches the record with twin electric guitars scrapping for lead billing over a long-division time signature. The impression is that a more academic affair (a la Minus The Bear or Battles) awaits. That’s thankfully not the case, as the rest of Kensington Heights earns its rightful place in the Constantines’ lunchpail canon. The problem is, there’s nothing all that memorable about the majority of these songs, but when there is, watch out. “Our Age” is a triumph of classic guitar melody and mid-tempo emotional restraint; “Time Can Be Overcome” hints at the band’s not-so-hidden inner blues; “I Will Not Sing A Hateful Song” stops just short of fist-shaking self-parody; and “Trans Canada” explodes from a rote, one-note metal riff into an impassioned collar-clencher that ends before the inclination to celebrate it can begin. If only all the songs on Kensington Heights were so easy to like. [www.arts-crafts.ca]
—Noah Bonaparte Pais
