Animals & Architects

Animals & Architects by Maybe Smith

sir005 | April 2007



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

  1. Open War
  2. Hearts Like Bears
  3. Bloody Nose
  4. I Fight Birds
  5. In The Woods
  6. Paper Bag
  7. Pounds of Sparks
  8. Local Man
  9. Saskatoon
  10. 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.

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Albums

  • Another Murder in the Morning
  • Tinfoil on the Windows
  • Snowmen & Scientists
  • Animals & Architects
  • Second Best Death
  • Root Hug
  • One For None
  • The Arriere Garde EP

Maybe Smith

“A highlight of Canadian indie music”—Exclaim!

“Here’s your chance to discover a true northern talent.”—Chart Magazine

“Canada’s best kept musical secret.”—Grant Lawrence, CBC Radio 3

Maybe Smith is the musical alias of Colin Skrapek from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The moniker holds no major significance besides being easier to pronounce than a Polish surname, though it also happens to be the name of a gunslinger in an obscure 1950s western film.

Maybe Smith has produced five LPs and two EPs of densely packed pop music full of samples, electronic squiggles and other curiosities since 2002. In 2008 his album Animals & Architects was nominated for a Western Canadian Music Award. It lost to a Nickelback-esque rock album.