What Is Free To A Good Home?

Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton Amazon.ca A companion piece to Knives Don't Have Your Back, this EP consists of five new songs and a remix. The mellow trumpets opening "Rowboat" signify that this is not the detached new-wave-inspired rock of Metric or the sprawling experimentation of Broken Social Scene. The album is largely Haines at a piano singing, with varied (but subtle) accompaniment. This is welcome, given her clever platitudes, enthralling voice, and sheer songwriting ability. As with Knives, the album art is an homage one of her late father Paul Haines' collaborations with Carla Bley (Tropic Appetites), and its title borrowed from his poem for Robert Wyatt. The songs are not throwaways from the Knives session by any means. "Bank" is reminiscent of Elliot Smith in its recording and in Haines' quiet conviction, though she's more likely to drop a comic cultural reference: "Just like Huey Lewis--I need a new drug that does what it should," she opines as the band swings lightly. "Bottom of the World" is a brainy minor dirge, rounded out with cello accompaniment. "Sprig," taking its lyrics from another of dad's poems, is the requisite soundscape, draped with noise, but still carrying the intimate, sorrowful feel that dominates the EP. A dub-styled remix of Knives' "Mostly Waving" follows, and with its electronic dance floor- ready beat ends the EP on a high note (and one more reminiscent of her output with Metric). Haines' talent as a musician and lyricist is on full display here, and it's a fine addition to her ever-growing oeuvre. --Jason Pac