Worth listening to: Five local musicians who are on the right key

Canasta, We Were Set Up (Broken Middle C)

Now that Poi Dog Pondering sounds lingering past its expiration date, the Chicago band most likely poised to take its place is Canasta, a sextet that finely lines its songs with a multitude of instruments (violin, horns, organs, clarinet) and obscures traditional pop structures to create miniature blockbusters built for the head and heart.

Canasta is not designed for comparisons, as these songs take big drives into the territories of soul, twee pop, rock and country without fully becoming any of them. What makes their music so compelling is the opulence of their group dynamic. On this debut, the songs become the band, not the other way around.

Lead singer Matt Priest portrays a lost soul in the urban jungle. On ‘Slow Down Chicago,’ he can barely see himself in the big picture (‘El trains they rumble along/and lots will happen with no help from me,’ he sings). That sort of downcast isolation is swept into these songs, stoked by instruments that, arranged with such precision, manage to carry particular emotional weight. ‘Shadowcat’ is the centerpiece; at seven minutes long, it keeps unfolding. While Canasta never gets as excited as the Arcade Fire, another band boasting a crammed membership, there are deep undercurrents in this music that keep it not just accessible, but a compelling soul’s journey.

— Mark Guarino, The Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), March 10, 2006