Lucas Stagg

For his third album in as many years, this Waterloo, ON indie rocker turned folkie checks back in with a self-titled effort worth investigating. Kicking off with the quasi-political "Doin’ Time,” Stagg keeps the arrangements simple throughout. Sticking mostly with acoustic guitars, upright bass and drums, the upbeat songs seem to work well, especially the harmonica-led "People Talk,” the rollicking "Hell Bent” and the horn-augmented "The Wrong Place.” That doesn’t mean his slower material is sub-par. In fact, the haunting dual finger-picking of "Isabelle” slowly reveals itself as a mid-album high point, but it does seem, overall, that Stagg is more comfortable with his up-tempo material.