Holy shit, The Gideons! The Halifax quintet’s spirited, joyful
double album Oxford Street is perhaps the most ambitious local
endeavour of the year—and the most successful. They
have tethered their fun messiness without sacrificing any exuberance.
It’s almost stressful finding a favourite song because you’ll have so
many. “I Will Take You To The Ivory Coast” could make Anton Newcombe
cream his jeans. “Peterson Cumz Alyve” has guitars talking dirty to
each other, and it would be hilarious if it wasn’t so fucking good. And
there’s the instantly hummable “Coke and Whiskey”—pitch-black lyrics
over a happy country bounce, and a bittersweet bridge that will damn
near break your heart. Oxford Street is an impressive
achievement from a great young band that’s parting ways far too soon.
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The Gideons take to the streets: Oxford Street double album release this Friday at the Khyber
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2009.
great album, but way to be gay Alice.
What can I say? I love gay. And the Gay-deons.