The Sadies

New Seasons (Yep Roc)

Leave it to the Toronto quartet to continually produce the most complete vision of what Americana should represent. On the heels of 2006’s exceptional live double-disc, the Sadies’ seventh studio album isn’t their most ambitious work, but it ranks among their tightest. “The First Inquisition (pt. IV)” thunders psychedelic, but except for “A Simple Aspiration”s Easy Rider acid declarations of “A higher conscience is all you need to set you free” and the surf twang of instrumental “Wolf Tones,” New Seasons is largely a showcase of the Good brothers’ Southern rock harmonies, accented by Jayhawk and co-producer Gary Louris’ backing vocals. “What’s Left Behind” rolls guitar lines like the Outlaws’ “Green Grass and High Tides,” while “Never Again” lopes alongside the Flying Burrito Brothers. Given the group’s renown for also backing Neko Case, Jon Langford, and Andre Williams, the Sadies are the proper inheritors to the legacies of Crazy Horse and the Band. (Thursday, March 13, Continental Club, 12mid; Friday, March 14, Auditorium Shores, 6pm.)

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This article appears in March 14 • 2008.

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