In a Canadian arthouse rock ’n’ road-trip movie, The Recroom would be the band squatting in a dilapidated but beautiful shanty by the side of Highway 60, where their haunting but curiously assertive songs would lure the itinerant protagonist out of his beaten-up Kia Sportage and into the liminal indie underworld that catalyzed his personal transformation. The songs on the Oshawa trio’s Wake Up the City disc are a lovely mass of nicely scarred basement post-punk guitars, murky bass and steady percussion, given an added jolt by subtle hints of Cuff the Duke–style twang and the hypnotic power of Jackie Game’s captivating vocals. The singer/guitarist is a chameleon, suggesting the robotic slinkiness of Emily Haines one second, pulling off a raw aggro Liz Powell (Land of Talk) the next, and winding down with a perfectly gorgeous Jolie Holland–style siren act on the countryish lullaby “Fire Escape."

Check out indiscover.net for more tracks by The Recroom.

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