Unknown legends

Everything I seem to read about Ox states that the Sudbury, Ontario band’s debut album was “weed soaked” or “dope-soaked” or up in smoke.  I got to tell you:  that doesn’t really do anything for me.  To each his own, I always say, but when I think of stoner rock, I picture over-aged Deadheads trying to capture an elusive thread of their youth before it pulls apart the seams of their every day existence.  Worse yet, are teens and 20 year-olds that try to achieve that exact same high, but vicariously through experiences they’ve never had and never would.  So needless to say, my level of anticipation for Ox’s sophomore LP, Burnout (even the title sounds stoner) was set to “yawn”.

I’m happy to report that what once may have fallen into that dope rock abyss has found new life, has floated to the surface and has set sail for brighter shores.  Still very much infused with an Americana/alt. country sound, but sounding clear-headed and driven by passion rather than peyote.  Of note is the majestic sounding “Unknown Legend”, a song that would be at home in Wilco’s setlist as it would one the Weakerthans’.

It’s not often that I get my hands on a CD by an Ontario band that live beyond the northern edge of the GTA, let alone from the near North of Sudbury, which makes Ox an intriguing prospect.  I can’t quite put my finger on what it is exactly, but there’s a real Northern Ontario element to their music, a quality that matches the rough-hewed edges of the Canadian Shield, broken by pools of placid lakes and spires of mighty trees, but still has an suburban sensibility to it.  “Your Old Buick”, an ode to a rusted-out car parked on someone’s front lawn, would sound tongue-in-cheek in lesser hands, but Ox turn it into a lament for a bygone time when the road was open with life and all its possibilities laid out before you like a road map.

The album may be called Burnout but, three albums into their career, it looks like Ox are just starting to shine.

MP3: Ox “Unknown Legend”
Video: Ox “Unknown Legend”
Myspace: Ox

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