Canada's
Sam Roberts Band offer more of their lyrical, rhythmically infectious rock on their seventh full-length, 2020's heartfelt
All of Us. The album follows 2016's Juno Award-nominated
Terraform and again finds the Montreal-based singer/songwriter exploring themes of rebirth and hope for the future. In some ways,
Roberts' music is a bridge between the groove-oriented rock of bands like
Primal Scream and the folky power pop-influenced style of fellow Canadians
the New Pornographers. It's a vibe
Roberts has been cultivating since breaking through with his 2003 Juno Award-winning debut,
We Were Born in a Flame, and one that he further develops here. Recorded in the wake of the contentious 2016 U.S. presidential election and during a period of seemingly endless global turmoil,
All of Us feels like
Roberts searching for a communal sense of positivity and hope. It's a feeling he conjures from the start of the album on the spare, synth-based "Wolf Tracks," singing "In the darkest times, we're running for the light/And in the hardest times, don't turn your back on the fight." He returns to this notion of resistance and renewal throughout the album, singing "It's never too late to turn around" on the driving,
Tom Petty-sque "Ascension" and dreaming of blue skies and seaside escape from life's worries on the psychedelic anthem "Take Me Away." Elsewhere, he explores '60s folk textures on the rootsy "Spellbound" and evokes the dancey, bass-heavy groove of his early hit "Brother Down" on "I Like the Way You Talk About the Future."