There is always going to be a huge part of me that mourns the indie-rock of my middle school and high school eras. Of course, a distinction must be made between what my middle school indie-rock sounded like. Sure, I had the standard Panic! at the Disco eyeliner phase that most of us had in sixth grade, but by seventh grade I was bored of whatever “scene” music was. Really bored. In those early days of YouTube I began stumbling onto bands like Wolf Parade, Broken Social Scene, and Stars — all Canadian bands from cities like Ontario and Montreal. All of these bands had more members than I probably had friends at the time, and filled up stages around the world with horn sections, string sections and weird glockenspiel sections. I found this undeniably magical and authentic. Bands like Arcade Fire used this method to break out onto huge festival stages, but the well of mid-2000s baroque indie-rock is so much deeper.

PUTTING IT ON A PEDESTAL

Here is where The Most Serene Republic comes into play. Labelmates with Broken Social Scene, they embodied what it meant to be an Arts & Crafts band, with their larger than life arrangements. These songs included innumerable different parts and sections, shedding minimalism for maximalism, most notably on 2007’s “Population.” It is hard not to be biased, but that record is one of my favorites of all time. Inevitably, putting it on a pedestal makes reviewing subsequent releases difficult — and yet, “Mediac” is as pleasant a surprise as any.

MICRO-EVOLUTIONS

“Ontario Morning” was my first taste of the new record, released as a single during the summer. All of the horn breaks I could have ever wanted are back, and this music feels like my own personal time machine. The lead guitar riffs intersect throughout wacky acoustic guitar chord changes, and the only imperfection on the track is its under-three-minute running time. “Capitalist Waltz” continues where I was hoping the record would go, with echos of the intricate drum patterns that opened up “Population” eight years ago. These tracks just feel huge, and unafraid to allow themselves to be larger than life. “Failure of Anger” even opens up with a quietly picked banjo, and grows to something so much more. The micro-evolutions contained within these tracks are where the record shines. The Most Serene Republic has always been incredible with dynamic tracks that feel alive. It is nice to see that time has been good to them, too.