Spun: Morningwood

By Ryan Pike

When a band names themselves after boners, you’d imagine they have a sense of humour about themselves. Luckily enough, Morningwood also has a good deal of talent. Their self-titled debut album explodes onto the scene with a good selection of­­–wait for it–fun songs. There’s no artificially manufactured angst here, kids.

The strength of the album is undoubtedly the voice of vocalist Chantal Claret. She manages to run the gamut from sultry to fragile, sometimes in the same song. A perfect example of her prowess is on “Nth Degree,” where she repeatedly spells the name of the band throughout the song, but manages to make it sound fantastic due to her vocals. There’s also “Take Off Your Clothes,” where Claret alternately orders, begs and pleads with the listener to disrobe and prepare for sex.

Morningwood begins with a great flurry of energy, despite almost blowing their load after the first third of the album, they refuse to go flaccid and display great stamina through an energetic and vibrant album. Their only misstep is bleeping out “fuck” during “Jetsetter.” Why does a band named after erections give a shit about swearing?