Swan Lake’s debut, Beast Moans, was my joint, man. I was on that shit like white on rice, yelpy vocals, amorphous melodies, and all. It probably didn’t hurt that I wasn’t too familiar with the individual members of the group—I knew Spencer Krug through Wolf Parade, but that’s by no means a solo project; the other two (Frog Eyes’ frontman Carey Mercer and Destroyer Dan Bejar) I only knew by name.
Two and a half years later, I’m quite familiar with each of the singers’ quirks and ticks, and on Enemy Mine some of the super-group’s ugly patches are starting to surface. Almost improbably, their new album is even less cohesive than the last. Beast Moans saw each of these three great (and really weird) songwriters putting forth some of their strongest material and then letting two other weirdos doodle on top of it. Ironically, by what I will assume is more group-oriented songwriting, the “other two” on any given song seem to fit in better with the main songwriter. “Heartswarm” might as well be by “Destroyer (ft. Carey Mercer).”
Still, you could do a lot worse than Enemy Mine; Mercer’s contributions are especially impressive and, building on success of 2007’s Tears of the Valedictorian show, the artist might be the next torchbearer for oddball Canadian indie. Still, first-timers would be better served buying Beast Moans–you weren’t into indie rock until after it came out anyway
