by Matt Watton (@brotinus)
“Jangly” and “angular” dominate the lexicon of music reviews. The former usually implies a twee and trebly pop-rock, the latter a darker and punchier post-punk. For Toronto’s Ducks Ltd., I am tempted to coin a new term – jangular. Modern Fiction, their latest release and their first full length, is jangular. Its bread and butter are trebly clean or chorus-pedaled guitar riffs combined with infectiously crafted open chord melodies. However, the attack of these riffs is frantic, and the album’s lyrical themes belie the initial optimism of their tone. It is this combination that makes the record so damn compelling.
This album builds on the momentum of their Get Bleak EP (originally released as Ducks Unlimited in 2019, and re-released by Carpark Records earlier this year). The duo behind the band may have self-recorded the record, but the production layers the guitar and vocals with snaking bass lines, synths, and strings to create depth and dynamics throughout. The songwriting evokes elements of the Smiths or the Wedding Present, and one could cite Look Blue Go Purple or the Clean – or any of the Flying Nun roster really – as a central point of influence (their Kiwi bona fides is strengthened by having New Zealand rockers The Beths contribute backing vocals on three of the tracks).
Tracks like “Under the Rolling Moon” and “Fit to Burst” are earworms that will have you humming the tune and bopping for hours after listening, while the two strongest tracks “How Lonely Are You?” and “18 Cigarettes” strike a perfect balance between catchy and cutting. Throughout the record, the upbeat and jubilant melodies are tempered by their introspective lyrics expressing listlessness, loneliness, and longing. Nowhere is this more evident than on the downright vitriolic “Sullen Leering Hope,” whose warm crescendoing major chords mask what is at its core an erudite diss-track.
Well produced and eminently listenable, Modern Fiction is another great edition to the seemingly endless stream of excellent rock records coming out of Toronto this year.