• Band / Artist : Christian Hansen – mySpace
• Genre : Alternative / Acoustic / Rock
• Sample Track Download : West Coast Housewives
• Buy CD : CD Baby
• Buy Digital Download : iTunes
• Rating : 8 out of 10

Will the sheer volume of CD’s that come into Indie Launchpad, it’s perhaps not surprising that some of them slip between the cracks. Some times the cracks have more to do with the chasms in my brain, but eventually they are uncovered, as was the case with this release from Edmonton, Canada based Christian Hansen.

Upon hearing the first track “Satellite Headstone”, I knew this was going to something special, appealing greatly to my love of acoustic/folk rock. It was however the second track “Habadasher’s Wife” that blew me away with both it’s simplicity and just wonderfully unique lyrics. Christian has a vocal style very similar to a band recently featured on the Indie Launchpad podcast, Jay Jay and the Pistolets. There’s a brash confidence that just exudes from the vocal delivery. The wonderful roll of excellent tracks continued with “West Coast Housewives”, which has the same vocal style, but this time underpinned with a more pop style of musical accompaniment. Actually I have to admit, that this song reminds me of A Ha’s, “Take on Me”. “Wedding Gun” is a much more relaxed track and comes as a welcome breather, after the first three amazing tracks.

The later half of the 9 track album, doesn’t fare so well. It’s not that the remaining tracks are bad, but as is often the case, there seems to be a break in the continuity of the album. It almost feels like the second half of the album has been spliced with the first. It’s almost like this album should have been released as two EPs.

Conclusion : There’s no doubting the amazing talent Christian has. If the whole album had followed in a similar vain to the first half, this would have been an absolutely amazing album. As it is, it’s still a treat to listen to. I’m looking forward to seeing the direction of the next album.