The Trews

By Ryan Belbin

The Trews Acoustic – Friends & Total Strangers Bumstead Records Rock

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You do not have to know any songs by the Trews to appreciate their newest record, Acoustic – Friends & Total Strangers although it might help.

Drawing from their three-album repertoire, including three brand new numbers, the group, hailing from Nova Scotia, strips down familiar songs such as “Poor Ol’ Broken Hearted Me,” “Tired Of Waiting,” and “Hold Me In Your Arms.” The album has the intimate feel of being recorded live in a ballroom, moving away from their heavier arrangements intended for the main concert stage.

Acoustic allows the Trews to experiment with musical arrangements and instrumentation, alter the tempo, and let the lyrics have more prominence. For songs such as “I Can’t Stop Laughing,” this allows for an altered listening experience; for more well-known songs, however, where the audience already has certain expectations, these acoustic versions seem like novelties that are worth a listen but not capable of supplanting the originals.

Nonetheless, the Trews demonstrate that, while they are not the best band in Canada or the most distinguished, they are certainly amongst the hardest working. Lead vocalist Colin MacDonald is prepared to belt out all the songs, while his brother and lead guitarist John-Angus refuses to slow down or lessen the intensity, lending a definite rock edge to the tunes.

The three new songs, “Den Of Thieves,” “Locked Doors,” and “Sing Your Heart Out” are highlights of the album, due to their construction specifically for an acoustic performance and have no counterparts on other recordings. As a live album, Acoustic is good, giving a fair taste of the musical capabilities of the Trews, but as an unplugged collection it is not quite daring enough to move away from the familiar and create a memorable sound that can stand by itself.

On “Man Of Two Minds,” a conflicted MacDonald admits that he “should let this thing die, ‘cause I am a man of two minds.” Hopefully that means he will decide to plug his electric guitar back in.

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