The Musicgoer: The Most Serene Republic's ...And The Ever Expanding Universe

THE MOST SERENE REPUBLIC
...And The Ever Expanding Universe
(Arts & Crafts)
** (out of 5)

On their new album, Milton, Ontario’s The Most Serene Republic prove they can create sweeping orchestral pop melodies — the instrumental track “Patternicity” is easily the highlight of ...And the Ever Expanding Universe, a dreamy six-minute mini-symphony whose gently shifting dynamics practically beg to have a dance piece created around them.

But holy Christ, what can be done about Adrian Jewett’s lyrics? I would say that he’s too much in love with his own cleverness, but these lyrics aren’t even clever — unless you consider stuffing “Gadzooks,” “xylem,” and “discontentment” into the same song clever. (And what’s wrong with plain old “discontent,” anyway?) Rhythmless, full of empty wordplay and tortured syntax, impenetrable for the sake of impenetrability, and never content to say “shadow” when “umbra” can be used instead, this is indie songwriting at its self-impressed worst. Someone really needs to take away Adrian Jewett's thesaurus privileges; it'll be hard, but it may be the only way to save him.