Laser – Night Driver

A Combination of Canadian Talent

What makes the band Laser so enjoyable and their music so easy to listen to is the combination of musicians that compile the band itself. This Toronto-based band combines the talents of Lisa Lobsinger from Broken Social Scene, Paul Pfisterer from The Beauties, and Martin Davis Kinack from the amazing and underrated indie band, Transistor Sound & Lighting Co.

On their debut record, Night Driver, each musician brings his or her own sound to the album. With every song, the listener hears the influence of each musician. There is a type of discordance to this record that conflicts with the sounds produced by each artist. This dissonance, however, is what makes this album memorable.

The song “Disco Night Driver,” is one such song where one notices the influential mark that each musician has imposed onto the music. The song has Lobsinger’s melodic, but powerful vocals, the twinge of guitar strings reminiscent of songs by the Beauties, and the dejected, grungy sound from Transistor Sound & Lighting Co. The song does fit together and sound harmonious, however, when really listening to it, one hears how each musician breaks off to create something similar to the style of music he or she played in the past.

This is a record where the musicians do not sacrifice their individuality for the sake of fitting in with one another. Instead of uniting for one universal sound, all of the musicians play something evocative of the bands that he or she played in before. None of them give way to the other and allow for one sound to triumph. Rather, they come together to create music that is independent from one another and in the end; the odd pairing of sounds fuses and produces a beautifully compatible, but distinctive record.