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Written by David Lichius Tuesday, 02 October 2007 16:15

Any expectations of an upbeat nerd-pop record are quickly squashed.

Diversity of sound is the overriding theme that permeates from the fourth LP by this Winnipeg, Ontario, quartet. While not completely confounding, it does make Reunion Tour something of an enigmatic disc.

During the first five tracks of this disc, The Weakerthans lay down well-written and endearing indie-pop. This is certainly helped along because of guitarist/vocalist John K. Samson's pipes having a certain They Might Be Giants/Barcelona/SNMNMNM quality. However, any expectations of an upbeat nerd-pop record are quickly squashed. After the Built to Spill-esque "Virtue the Cat Explains Her Departure," the disc takes a turn for the different.

This presents a problem. Taking into consideration the overall tone of Reunion Tour to this point, its transition into songs with a folk/alt-country tone is not exactly smooth. Judged by their own merit, numbers such as "Sun in an Empty Room," "Night Window" and "Bigfoot" are excellent. However, given the way the tracks are laid out on Reunion Tour, they lose some of their effectiveness.

From a personal perspective, splicing the opening tracks amongst Reunion Tour's more low-key moments instead of front-loading them would have worked a lot better. However, in the end, track order does not detract the fact that this is a fantastic disc. It may take some time for adjustment, but Reunion Tour is a disc worthy of the utmost praise. A | David Lichius