Something Beautiful

A Platinum-selling act in their Canadian homeland, Great Big Sea has mined that country's proud Scots/Irish Celtic heritage in a decidedly modern context. Their arrangements are honeycombed with the accordions, bouzoukis, pipes, whistles and fiddles typical of traditional music and nicely handled they are, too. But these come across as afterthoughts amid a powerhouse hit machine featuring robust lead vocals, a booming drum kit, and close-harmony hooks obviously calibrated to induce stadium sing-alongs. The group is a throwback to seventies folk-rockers in that they veer between trad/arr material ("John Barbour") and original tunes ("Helmenthead," which catalogues the conquests of a kiss-and-tell hockey player). In contemporary terms, they occasionally recall singer-songwriter Paul Brady's polished lyrics or the crowd-pleasing barroom roughhousing of Black 47. But ultimately, this is a mainstream band, high-energy and very good at what they do; the question is how they'll play outside their comfort zone. --Christina Roden