Club Meds refers to our fondness for escaping reality through self-medication, yet there’s little that’s sedate about Canadian songwriter Dan Mangan’s fourth album. It is, however, lyrically engaging and musically adventurous, with the arrangements here more ambitious than on Club Meds’ predecessor, Oh Fortune. Some of the winding guitar lines, such as those on A Doll’s House Pavlovia, are reminiscent of post-OK Computer Radiohead, whereas on War Spoils Mangan’s voice descends to the bleak environs frequented by Interpol’s Paul Banks. Even when a song is more traditional in structure, such as Mouthpiece, Mangan’s band conjure up a melee that flies in like wild weather, ensuring that once you turn on and tune in to these meds, it’s pretty hard to drop out.
