Ian Daniel Kehoe
Rock & Roll Illusion // Charging The Stone // Disco Body Buzz
Tin Angel Records
Toronto, ON
RIYL: Nicholas Krgovich; Sandro Perri; ‘80s Springsteen

In a rockstar move, Ian Daniel Kehoe released, in his words, “a casual trio of albums” in one day. While they differ in sound and mood, each album – Rock and Roll Illusion, Charging the Stone, and Disco Body Buzz – feels intrinsically linked. It’s like one adventurous night. Rock & Roll Illusion is a rock album that’s tender enough to listen to while drinking a sparkling beverage and wearing cut-off jean shorts in your living room. Disco Body Buzz, on the other hand, is moody and heavy with synths and electronic drum beats. It’s for driving around all night, wearing a leather jacket, and dancing with somebody you find cute. Charging The Stone is a record to put on when the sun is about to rise again but you’re still wide-eyed from your night out. It has a joyful twang to it, thanks to Aaron Goldstein’s pedal steel and there’s a deep ease present. On “Sometimes Feeling Means Goodbye,” Kehoe reaches a comradely high when he, alongside The Weather Station’s Tamara Lindeman (who is heard throughout the records), sings, “all that we can do is cry and cry together / cry where we are / cry together from afar.”

And then it is clear: what links Kehoe’s three albums is love.

Laura Stanley