Ducks Ltd. – Harm’s Way review

For the uninitiated Ducks Ltd. are a Toronto based duo of English singer/lyricist Tom McGreevy and Australian Evan Lewis, who multi-tasks on guitar, bass, drum programming. They make music which channels a range of influences – 60’s pop and garage, The Smiths, R.E.M., shoegaze, jangling indie – and their debut album Modern Fiction even revealed them as unlikely fans of The Wedding Present.

In musical terms for Harm’s Way neither the approach or the end product is vastly different, but this isn’t to say that those who worship at the church of C-86 will be in any way disappointed as the pair have turned up the retro to 11. Lyrically though things have taken a darker pitch, McGreevy addressing themes that are ‘About struggling, about watching people I care for suffer and trying to figure out how to be there for them. And about the strain of living in the world when it feels like it’s ready to collapse.’

If sounding heavenly whilst talking about personal hells sounds like an odd juxtaposition it should be said that on the likes of Deleted Scenes, We’re On Our Way to The Rave and The Main Thing this misery is the kind that anyone could take into their company. The whole thing is capped off by the title track, a rush of McGuinn intricacy and mid-80’s rawness that should have Alan McGee weeping for what was. Ducks Ltd. are brillianty letting the real world rollercoaster drag them up and down.

You can read a full review here.