Peter Elkas
Wall of Fire
(Maple)
This is your garden-variety blue-eyed soul-rock that doesn’t manage to set itself apart from predecessors such as Ron Sexsmith, who has a uniquely tender voice and deep sense for the world to match. On Wall of Fire Elkas steps forward with no standout quality. From the opener “Fall Apart Again” through the title track to later cuts such as “Sunlight,” the tempo and mood don’t vary. In the end, you think you’re listening to a Wallflowers album. If the songs showed their ragged edges, which no doubt existed as they were written and rehearsed, that might’ve helped. You’d think producer Charlie Sexton (“Beat So Lonely”) might’ve recalled how to do that.
Sean Flinn
categories: Canadian artist
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.