Sir, Handsome Records - Animals & Architects

Animals & Architects by Maybe Smith

sir005 | April 2007

Nominated for a 2008 Western Canadian Music Award (Outstanding Rock Album)

Open War
Hearts Like Bears
Bloody Nose
I Fight Birds
In The Woods
Paper Bag
Pounds of Sparks
Local Man
Saskatoon
Bad Swimmer

Written and produced by Colin Skrapek in Saskatoon, June 2006 – January 2007. Mastered by Joel Grundahl. Illustrations by Todd Gronsdahl. Short story contributed by Sheena B. Miller.

Animals & Architects review from I (heart) Music

Maybe it’s just me, but I always enjoy albums more when they seem to come out of nowhere and blow me away. Animals & Architects is probably a pretty good example of this…If we really are in a new age of music consumption, however, and people are willing to accept that the year’s best album may just come from the middle of the prairies, then Animals & Architects might just put the Saskatchewan music boom on the map. Read full article »

Animals & Architects review from PopMatters

[Animals & Architects] sounds nothing like what you think of when you think of the Canadian prairies. Instead of being a record of gentle acoustic or steel guitars, Animals & Architects is an album built on a foundation of distorted piano loops, catchy melodies and electronic squiggles. Skrapek’s music has much more in common with the big city sample-based Russian Futurists than it does with the handful of famed Saskatchewanian (Saskatchewonian? Saskatchwanese?) singer-songwriters, like, say, Joni Mitchell… With music this good coming out of the province, maybe there is a reason to visit Saskatchewan after all. Read full article »

Animals & Architects review from Vue Weekly

Animals & Architects, Skrapek’s fifth release in as many years, is already garnering nods from the likes of CBC Radio 3’s Grant Lawrence. Rightly so: the record is chock-full of Maybe Smith’s signature fuzzy electronica, surprisingly and undeniably fun-loving. You’ll be hard-pressed not to sing along, roll down your window and turn it up. Read full article »

Animals & Architects review from Chart Magazine

Saskatchewan’s Maybe Smith (a.k.a Colin Skrapek) has written and produced all four of his full-length albums. Perhaps by virtue of his mono-artistic method, his songs sound like a beehive of co-operative harmonic loops, fuzzy drum machines and lap steel guitar wrapped around layered vocals. The result hovers somewhere between Peter, Bjorn & John’s simple electro-folk aesthetic—“In The Woods” could easily moonlight as a track from Writer’s Block—and the honest pop musicality of Yo La Tengo. It’s a winning combination. Skrapek accomplishes on his own what many bands fail to achieve as a collective, all without coming off contrived, which is why it’s surprising that he’s remained below the radar for so long. Here’s your chance to discover a true northern talent.