The Dears haven't yet made much of an impact on this side of the Atlantic, but apparently they're absolutely huge in their native Canada. That's more than a little ironic, since their indie-rock sound is so defiantly English - in particular, it bears a strong resemblance to the early Smiths fronted by Blur's Damon Albarn. In fact, you can hear echoes of almost every great Britpop band of the last 20 years, as well as the odd trace of French jazz-club cabaret. All of this is fine as long as the songwriting is up to scratch, and for most of No Cities Left, it is - Murray Lightburn's compositions have a suitably epic feel, and his sense of emotional drama proves to be highly infectious. Unfortunately there's a dramatic fall-off in quality towards the end, as the arrangements become too contrived and the vocal histrionics head way over the top. In parts, a fine album - but the Dears really need to keep an eye on their quality control.
