Swan Lake - Enemy Mine (2009) [JagJaguwar] // Grade: D

Canadian Indie Rock trio Swan Lake are back with a second album titled Enemy Mine and it finds the band no less lacking in distortion, nonsensical lyrics and literary references.

Originally slated to be titled Before The Law, a Franz Kafka reference, the band changed the album’s title to Enemy Mine in an attempt to combat their dependence on literary themes. It’s a decision that ultimately goes nowhere, and Enemy Mine listens like a Kent State PhD lecture on Bob Dylan—a little bit referential of the past, and a whole lot overly intellectual. The trio of Spencer Krug, Carey Mercer and Dan Bejar (of bands including Frog Eyes, The New Pornographers and Wolf Parade) certainly don’t lack the musical backgrounds to feasibly pull off Indie Rock supergroup status, but Swan Lake just isn’t that project.

I really want to like this band, and in all fairness, as a trio, Krug, Mercer and Bejar’s respective talents work very well together, but stylistically, the overly intellectual ramblings marking Swan Lake’s music are a difficult pill to swallow. “Peace” illustrates the band at their most cohesive and palatable. Layered vocals play amongst steady guitar strums and complementary keys. Easily the standout track of Enemy Mine, the moan-filled, slow burner shows what this band is capable of when they leave behind their schtick and let their skills as musicians shine.

Enemy Mine is a difficult listen from a band that could be really good if they’d just shut their textbooks and jack up their energy.

- Scrooge McFuck