7/10

There's an appealing looseness to his new LP 'Bric-a-Brac Attack'. From beginning to end, Plain Mister Smith’s second album is a release that feels deliberately assembled from the fragments of memories, places, characters, half-serious observations and moments of emotional clarity.

And that approach suits an artist who has always operated across different musical worlds. Formerly a guitarist with Canadian darkwave band Moev and also a cellist with the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, Plain Mister Smith brings both instinct and structure to his songwriting. Across 'Bric-a-Brac Attack', those instincts are channelled into breezy indie-pop and folk-rock that can feel playful one moment and quietly introspective the next.

Built around bright acoustic guitars and an easy, steady rhythm, lead single 'Grindavík' reflects on the Icelandic town of the same name and its recent volcanic upheaval. Yet the landscape is doing double duty. The fissures in the earth become a metaphor for fracture inside a relationship, giving the song an emotional weight that sits beneath its relatively warm exterior.

Guest contributions from Jordan Klassen and Kitt add further texture, while the song’s evolving chord movement keeps it from becoming overly static. There are echoes of Elliott Smith, Radiohead and Beatles-era melodic craftsmanship, but Plain Mister Smith remains most interesting when he allows those influences to blur together rather than leaning too heavily on any one reference point.

Further titles such as ‘Andy Warhol’, ‘Lucian & Francis’ and ‘Fragmentary World’ reinforce the sense that 'Bric-a-Brac Attack' is a record focused in collecting seemingly unrelated ideas and placing them beside one another. Collaborators including Findlay Brown, Leeroy Stagger, Krystle Dos Santos and Tyson Motsenbocker also broaden the record’s palette without undermining its coherence.

‘Dream To Be Free’, meanwhile, points towards the album’s more openly yearning side. Like much of Plain Mister Smith’s work, it balances accessibility with introspection, favouring memorable melodic shapes without smoothing away the odd details that give the songs personality.

Here, Plain Mister Smith has made an album that feels light on its feet without being lightweight. 'Bric-a-Brac Attack' is witty, reflective and quietly adventurous, proving that sometimes the most interesting records are the ones willing to leave a few loose pieces scattered across the floor.