一聽音樂網

Ostensibly Yonder is Tin Star Orphans' debut CD, but the core of the band has been kicking around the Toronto scene for a few years, developing its alt-roots/art-rock sound under a different moniker and with some lineup changes. Yonder is nothing if not ambitious, opening with a swelling and churning six-minute instrumental highlighting the band's orchestral palette and proficiency of the players before introducing the arresting vocals of Zachary Bennett—a distinctive, punchy caw with which little else can compete unless it's mighty. Which probably explains the scale and structure that marks the music in Yonder: a thoroughly slick-ified and knowing pretension of hillbilly fare, crossbred with grandiose rock ornamentations and attitude. It's not at all bad—cohesive and deft, original and driving, and certainly hinting at a blistering live show—but reminiscent of how Spielberg would render a rough backwoods roadhouse: lovingly detailed, everything in place, but ultimately more about the reference than the real.