The Hidden Cameras 'Home On Native Land' -- Review

After being based out of Berlin for many years, singer-songwriter, artist and actor Joel Gibb has returned to Canada and is set release the seventh Hidden Cameras album, Home On Native Land, this Friday via Outside Music. Gibb return to his native country has resulted in the creation of a record that not only marks his physical return but also a philosophical return to his Canadian roots. Formerly touted as a “gay church folk” act this new cycle of Hidden Cameras songs are an astute look at living north of the 49. Overflowing with gentle rhythms, pedal steel, soulful country tinged melodies and recorded by Don Kerr of The Rheostatics; you can practically smell the cedar chips coming off the turntable.

Dusty banjo roll underneath album opener “The Day I Left Home”, Gibb’s tale of a man who burns his possessions and heads off into the world to find that this results in a freedom made more profound by taking control of his future then by the relief of being freed from his past. The song is quite beautiful and made more so with the addition of it’s lilting piano and chorus gang vocals. A lovely sting quartet punctuate “He is the Boss Of Me” a song about a relationship in which the narrator seems always a step behind his lover but although the dynamic is one sided it is recognized that any lessons learned are only helping him to become a more fully rounded person. On “You And Me Again” Gibb assumes an Elvis-esque persona as he croons over a minimal rockabilly shuffle.  The basic arrangement of the track makes it all the more powerful as it leaves the song’s emphasis on the lyrics; Gibb's ode to a partner. Following up this track is perhaps the most Canadian song on the record, a cover of “Log Driver’s Waltz”. This is a song that was the feature of a National Film Board of Canada cartoon from the 1980s and one that is immediately recognizable by anyone who grew up in this country at that time. As a part of a concept album channeling the essence and feel of life in the north I understand its inclusion but it still comes off as a novelty, albeit a beautifully realized one with guest performances from Rufus Wainwright, Feist and Mary Margaret O’Hara.

Joel Gibb is a very talented songwriter and on Home On Native Land he’s joined by an impressive roster of guest musicians but still manages to create something that feels like it reflects his singular version of what it is like to live, love and grow up and die Canadian. The album works amazingly well as a collection but if you spend some time digging into its individual parts, the real payoff happens. I understand that the idea of putting on a full length album of songs that speak to the perception of what it is to be Canadian may not sound wholly appealing but I am onboard with something Gibb’s says in the album closer, “Twilight Of The Season”. “Take a chance on this stuff, you will be lured by it.” I certainly was.