DAN BRYK Lover's Leap
Scratchie/Teenage USA 57362 30212 (Song)

This Toronto singer/songwriter is certainly an original, and one who's made great strides since his 1995 Dan Bryk, Asshole debut. His songs sound very personal, but are laced with so much irony that you don't know where the truth ends and creative licence takes hold. She Doesn't Mean A Thing To Me Tonight, about feelings toward a former girlfriend, first appeared on Asshole but has been revamped and included here at the request of the Scratchie brain trust (which includes Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, Smashing Pumpkin James Iha and his former bandmate D'Arcy Wretzky). Mark Turmell V2.0 is an ode to a favourite computer game programmer; Fingers is about a boyhood friend who was an excellent piano player, but liked to use his diddling digits on more than his keyboard; and Spadina Expressway is a piano and violin ballad about a never developed thoroughfare. Bryk's voice is certainly nothing special, but he can write some mean pop hooks. And he augments his various keyboard contributions with assistance from the likes of guitarist Kurt Swinghammer, Starling's Maury Lafoy and Danny Michel, former Gravelberry (and Mike's brother) Paul Myers, Moxy Fruvous and Jacksoul's Haydain Neale. Bryk had friends at the CBC who allowed him to record much of this in its studios, and Jim Rondinelli (Matthew Sweet, Sloan, Odds) came in later to mix it. This album is bound to build up a cult following, and deservedly so. (Steve Maclean)