A.V. Club: Best of the Decade

Artist Rock Plaza Central

  • Sebastian Politowicz

Toronto band Rock Plaza Central favors widely reaching, ambitious tunes—which makes sense, considering leader Chris Eaton is also a novelist. 2007’s Are We Not Horses showcases Eaton’s ability to wrap a collection of songs around one unifying (if odd) idea: robots that think they’re horses. Yet even with titles like “How Shall I To Heaven Aspire?” the songs prove giddily raw, with banjo, guitar, horns, and keys wigging out like frantic indie rock and stomping like good, lean alt-country. The band’s 2009 release ...At The Moment Of Our Most Needing, Or If Only They Could Turn Around, They Would Know They Weren’t Alone is in the same vein: Lyrically inspired by William Faulkner’s Light In August, it combines old-school country-rock and high-concept themes like a meeting of The Decemberists and Wilco.

Updated 06/25/2009

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