The Hidden Cameras
Awoo
Release Date: Sep 19, 2006
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Record label: Arts & Crafts
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Album Review: Awoo by The Hidden Cameras
Very Good, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Once again, the amorous, shape-shifting, and occasionally naughty Toronto pop collective take the fey out of gay with an orchestra pit full of Brill Building cacophony that provides the kind of instantly gratifying retro-indie rock that has been their wine and cheese since 2003's Smell of Our Own. Joel Gibb and his army of Hidden Cameras don't stray far from the verse/chorus/verse/chorus audio font that made Mississauga Goddam such a summer road-trip necessity, but they do sound like more of a band now than a Gibb studio project. Awoo (like a coyote howl) is populated by pulse-quickening rockers like "Death of a Tune," the R.
Based on rating 3/5
Since Hidden Cameras' lyrics have previously concerned the delights of receiving an enema and being urinated on, one suspects that Awoo is a weird abbreviation for yet more sexual excess. However, for once, Joel Gibb - a man once wonderfully described as a "sugar-coated pervert" - has veered away from lyrical indulgence. If the worst are a bit so-so indie, the best soar blissfully on melodies reminiscent of gold autumn days and Belle & Sebastian as they tackle loneliness and love.