In a move towards the peppier, poppier sound of his other band, Broken Social Scene, Andrew Whiteman has all but abandoned his 2004 debut, Folkloric Feel’s Cuban influence and subtle experimentalism on the new National Anthem of Nowhere. In their place has emerged the signs of an apparently more confident songwriter and arranger, unafraid to rein in his songs to more conventional structures and let his band Apostle of Hustle take the spotlight.
And his choice has paid off – National Anthem of Nowhere is delightfully fraught with catchy songs, replete with interesting arrangements and the fully developed melodies that Whiteman no longer seems eager to destroy as he did in many of Folkloric Feel’s meandering tracks.
Whiteman’s career as a semi-solo artist in Apostle of Hustle, of which he is the lead songwriter and singer, mirrors Broken Social Scene’s progression from an experimental, minimal project on 2001’s Feel Good Lost to a god-knows-how-many-member stadium rock band with its own horn section on last year’s self-titled album. In much the same way, Whiteman has moved from the fringes to the centre, defying the tendency towards entropy we may be prone to expect in art as well as in nature.
National Anthem of Nowhere showcases Whiteman’s best work yet in the opening two tracks, “My Sword Hand’s Anger” and “National Anthem of Nowhere.” Both songs share a more straightforward rock sensibility than did anything on Folkloric Feel. The result is a gloriously rollicking sound that hints at the band’s enjoyment of the material and a very natural-sounding quality that may indicate Whiteman’s growth into a more mature artist, comfortable with his direction – a quality that was lacking on his previous album but comes through clearly and to wonderful effect here.
