Canada’s Our Lady Peace
first garnered some attention
with their driving,
grungy tune “Starseed” back in the mid-
’90s. In the ensuing 15 years, the band has
sold five million records, worked with
über-producer Bob Rock, and gotten a new
guitarist in Steve Mazur. Now they’re getting
back to their indie roots with this
self-produced effort. Mazur’s tones are
very immediate and his parts have a raw,
reckless quality that’s a nice change from
the super-slick over-production that’s
everywhere these days. The comparisons
to U2 that have dogged this band are sure
to resume when people hear “The End Is
Where We Begin” (as well as “Refuge”
and “White Flags”) but Mazur gets his
own thing back with clean single-note lines
on “Signs of Life” and class-A clang on
“Paper Moon.” His oblique bends in “Monkey
Brains” are scratchy and mean and
seem to be right on the verge of getting
out of control. The guitar tones are probably
the strongest thing about Burn Burn.
Our Lady Peace.