If you’re inclined to romantic misadventure, then take heart. Paper Moon has somehow uncovered your most secret yearnings and fashioned them into a collection of shimmering, sharply observed pop songs that will teach you one very important lesson: we all lose at love. With its crystalline, synth-driven sound, Broken Hearts… has much in common with the band’s debut album, One Thousand Reasons to Stay…One Reason to Leave. With their sophomoric release however, the band seems more assured and mature, both lyrically and in the vocals of lead singer Alison Shevernoha. The edge between anger and sad resignation is explored thoroughly here, most successfully in the urgent and unsettling These New Friends of Yours…, and the slightly bitter Less Than Perfect. If you need proof that you’re not alone in feeling alone, this is it! (Karyn Bonham)
CD, Endearing Records, www.papermoon.ca