The sad truth of it is that the actual talent/enjoyability of any given indie band is usually inversely proportional to the cheekiness of their song titles. So when confronted with titles like The Dilemna of Burning Down the House, You Would Never Survive the Winters In This Province, A Walrus with a Gunswordaxe vs. The Big Bang Machine, and I Suck at Photosynthesis, it's not hard to imagine the musical horror that lies beneath.

So imagine the shock and relief upon discovering that Maybe Smith's sixth long-player, Another Murder In the Morning, isn't just up to the challenge of its lyrical penmanship, it is firing hard on all cylinders, a roaring, sample-happy one-man engine of sound. (www.sirhandsomerecords.com)

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan's Maybe Smith (also known as Colin Skrapek) made Another Murder In the Morning by "respectfully ripping off" disparate artists like Leslie Gore, New Order, Animal Collective, Ride, The Flaming Lips, Les Savy Fav, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, The Drifters, M83 and many more while adding guitar and vocals and a soul. The results are cathedrals of sound and melody that soar, sometimes spectacularly, off simple recording foundations (hear Crimes and Diplomacy).

Another Murder In the Morning is available as of April 21, but there are a couple of opportunities to see him live before then in central Canada when Maybe Smith plays Amigos in Saskatoon on March 27 (with Polymaths) and at O'Hanlon's in Regina on April 10 (also with Polymaths).