Album Review: Waxing Romantic by Travis Bretzer

Coming of age in Edmonton, there must not have been much for young Travis Bretzer to do but listen to every record ever released on Captured Tracks, and maybe a few on Mexican Summer, the label that eventually signed him. That and do a little research into the bands that influenced some of the poppier artists on the label; bands like Orange Juice and Felt, for example. His first EP, Making Love, showed the results of his studies, sounding like a warped take on his influences.

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Head here to submit your own review of this album. Like so many before him, Travis Bretzer has honed his pop skills writing jingles for his local radio station. This fact will surprise no one who has the opportunity to soak in Bretzer's effortless, melodic guitar-pop. With this experience in commercial music and the success of fellow Edmonton, Alberta native Mac DeMarco informing the sonic shape of his tunes, Bretzer has crafted a smooth, lush collection of pop songs for his debut LP, Waxing Romantic.

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Travis Bretzer is all loved-up. The awkward 25-year-old slacker from Edmonton, Canada has delivered lo-fi pop, influenced by his trials and tribulations with romance, since the release of his first EP, last year’s ‘Making Love’. The songwriter has now prepared his first LP, moving recording from his bedroom to the studio, yet still inspired by his romantic escapades.

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The chances are Travis Bretzer’s name wouldn’t be the first on the lips of anybody pressed to name an indie pop slacker from Edmonton, Canada. Mac DeMarco has all but sewn up that particular niche for himself with a stream of mercilessly excellent product over the past few years. Before even listening to Bretzer’s own debut LP then, it’s all too easy to slot the 25 year-old into some kind of imagined hard luck narrative; a victim of circumstance lost and wheezing amidst DeMarco’s contrails.

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