Endearing/Jagjaguar
By now we’re familiar with Julie Doiron’s bag of tricks. Take painfully personal experiences distill them into a story that is childlike in its simplicity and then use a shrugging falsetto to balance earnest acoustic strumming or grungy fuzzed-out riffs. It worked when she was in Eric’s Trip. It worked when she was backed by Wooden Stars and for the most part it works here with her recent go-to guy Fred Squire and bass-playing engineer Rick White. White has been playing with Doiron since Eric’s Trip so he’s well tuned to wringing as much raw intensity as he can from her rock numbers and pushing her vocals to the front on her timid folkalongs.
It’s pretty enough but it’s less emotionally compelling here. Doiron has admitted that she’s reasonably happy these days and I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day misses the heartache that defined her best releases. “Nice to Come Home” is the one track that proves too cute to be taken seriously but there are some wonderful psych moments on “Heavy Snow” and measured restraint on “Spill Yer Lungs.” The greatest moments come during “When Brakes Get Wet” — in less than two minutes she achieves faux glitch pop perfection with looped strumming patterns and handclap percussion. It is a refreshing surprise from Doiron that most of the record with the exception of the vibrato heavy “Blue” can’t live up to. Still I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day has enough confessional intimacy and whispered magic to appease casual fans as well as those that are in for the long haul.
