After seeing his amazing set on Oct 2 in Ottawa.
I decided to purchase his latest album called Soft Airplane (Flemish Eye Records in Canada, Sub Pop in USA).
The begining track and lead single is “Willow Tree”.
Upon hearing it, he sounds abit like Neil Young.
The song itself is about death and is very sad and emotional listening to it.
From one minute he goes from Folk (Willow Tree), to Rock (Inside the Molecules) to Electronica (Phantom Anthills) and to the weird (TMNT Mask).
He isn’t just a one genre artist.
Lots of emotional he has put on the record.
To me he doesn’t sound like Neil Young. I would say he is the Canadian version of Beck.
Standout tracks:
- Willow Tree [audio:http://www.flemisheye.com/content/music/FLCR017/ChadVanGaalen-Willow_Tree.mp3]
- Bones of Man
- Bare feet on wet griptape
- Rabid Bits of Time
- Frozen Energon
Overall great album but be warn some tracks has dark overtones about death.
You should definitely see him when he plays in your town.
Not to be missed and he puts on a great show.
