Secretly Canadian
2001
Fetch The Compass Kids
About This Album
Never quite at home on the overtly Christian record label Tooth & Nail, the Danielson Famile moved over to the Indiana-based indie label Secretly Canadian for their fifth release, Fetch the Compass Kids. Tooth & Nail, with its roster of mostly punk and emo bands, never seemed to know what to do with Danielson's quirky, largely unclassifiable pop, and the band suffered from poor support as a result -- despite winning accolades from such high-profile publications as Spin and the Village Voice. But most of the attention showered on the Danielson Famile up to this release focused on the band's eccentricities -- the odd rhythm shifts, the girl group harmonies, the otherworldly lyrics, and, above all, Daniel Smith's voice, which at times sounds like a pre-pubescent Frank Black -- overlooking the quality of Smith's songcraft. With Fetch the Compass Kids, the Famile also broke away from longtime producer/collaborator Kramer (who worked on their previous three outings) and enlisted the ubiquitous Steve Albini to work behind the boards. And the result is an album far more accessible than anything put out previously by the band. The unpredictability and general weirdness is still fully intact -- with banjos, falsetto harmonies, toy piano, and marching singsong-y tempos strewn about -- but it doesn't overshadow the songs themselves.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9)

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