The first single from
Faber Drive's second album, "G-Get Up and Dance," was a brilliant, over-processed piece of party rock that propelled the Canadian band back onto their country's charts once again. The accompanying record, which owes as much to dance music as rock, also helped cut and mold the band away from the sound of their first album (although
Seven Second Surgery, the Faber Drive's debut, is still evoked on standout tracks like "Lucky Ones").
Can't Keep a Secret, the band's sophomore sampling, fits right into the 2009-2010 pop/rock blend alongside names like
Hedley and
Marianas Trench, complete with the requisite synthesizers and sirens. The strongest cuts come in the form of dance-rock anthems like "Never Coming Down" and "Just What I Needed," although the bandmembers prove they know how to cut a killer new-millenium rock ballad such as "You and I Tonight." The only major drawback to the album is the possibility that
Faber Drive may not have found their own sound yet, drifting instead to whatever the current flavor of the times may be. However, numbers like "I'll Be There," a duet with Canadian country singer
Jessie Farrell, suggest that just because
Faber Drive are playing to the sounds of the times doesn't mean they can't produce terrific music that is always funky and fun, if not spectacularly unique. ~ Matthew Chisling