Kevin Hearn – Cloud Maintenance

Former Bare Naked Ladies keyboardist Kevin Hearn’s solo debut, Cloud Maintenance is like looking skyward on a sunny day.  Sometimes you’ll see intriguing shapes, curious images, and imaginative patterns, while at other times nothing in particular will jump out at you.  This might work well in daily life since there’s always something of interest back at ground level, but on Cloud Maintenance listeners don’t have that luxury.

The album opens on an experimental note that demands a lot of patience from its listeners.  Both “Northland Train” and “She Waved” feel more in the process of becoming than definitive opening statements.  Perhaps that was Hearn’s intent, but he almost lost me completely before the mild pop infusion of “Don’t Shuffle Me Back” finally gave me something to latch onto.  Here Hearn’s piano takes a lively tone not unlike that of piano-pop icon Ben Folds, although with a far less developed or quick wit.  Case and point, the forced rhyme resulting from the nonsensical lyrics “at the Dollarama with the Dalai Lama, you can buy cards buy you can’t buy karma.”  The loose association might have worked if it wasn’t so coincidental. Kevin Hearn’s experiments range from intriguing to those like “The House Of Intervention” which comes across as more the opening to children’s morning programs Mr. Rogers or Mr. Dress Up than anything else.

Generally Hearn’s sound varies on a per-track basis, with a few scattered successes speaking to his ability as a musician.  Curiously, the album’s most disheartening outing, “Grey Garden,” also doubles as the most emotively in tune.  “I live beside a dead garden, where I pass the time of day, come sit and watch the clay harden, if you’re ever around this way” speaks Hearn as he offers an open invitation to those willing to entertain his melancholy mood.  Think countryman John K. Samson (The Weakerthans) for a loose comparison.  Another deserving gem, “Monsters Anonymous,” showcases a strong sense of creativity in its laundry list of guest vocals, each representing the voice of famous monsters ranging from a Cyclops addicted “to his eye drop” to Frankenstein’s creation who apparently struggles with procreation because he wears “his nuts on his neck.”  Not only are the lyrics fun, but the vocal variety is a rare and original treat.  Serving as a double-edged sword, the track hints at what may have been had Hearn taken a collaborative rather than solo approach.

By and large, Cloud Maintenance falls short of engaging, but isn’t without a handful of tracks worth cherry picking for future playlists.  I’ll be shelving the album under “missed the mark,” but his experimental sense will keep Hearn on my radar should be choose to continue his pursuits.