It seems Canadian bands and artists fall into three categories these days: 1.) Pop with orchestral leanings (see: The Dears, The Arcade Fire) 2.) Avant-garde meanderings that flow in and out of listenability (see: The Arts&Crafts and CST umbrellas) 3.) Sum 41

However The Adam Brown (compromising of Adam Brown who has previously released a solo acoustic folk-rock album and what is virtually a backing band) lie far away from any of these, and are all the better for it.

Though the latter tracks seem unfinished and are marred by terrible production the first two more than make up for these discrepancies. 'Give Me Back My Heart' is one of the strongest pop songs likely to be released (or in this case demo'd) this year and then 'Hungrythirsty' runs in parallel with Beyoncee's 'Crazy In Love' for catchiest song of this half-decade.

A lot of praise for a demo you might think, especially as its so difficult to put a finger on what makes this demo, or at least the first two tracks, so enjoyable. The hooks would be a reasonable if somewhat standard answer, each track features synth parts that Van Halen would give their mullets for and combines them with garage-rock riffs which not only bear close comparisons to those of bands like MC5 but also reach their quality.

The song-writing is also top-notch, with Adam dropping the witty turns of phrase that littered his previously mentioned solo-album and swapping them with lyrics more akin to the eighties hair rock the demos sound leans on. ‘Hungrythirsty’ begins with the line “Well I’m a rock star baby and its getting old” and the chorus is surely the best ode to a girl named Emily released by an artist from the other side of the atlantic.

So while it may be gritty and trial of towards the end this demo is more than promising and is definitely worth checking out. If these guys are the head of another wave of great upcoming Canadian bands then we are in for a treat.