Adam & the Amethysts - "The Return". Time works differently in the lake. On the surface it's all silver-flash, fish-fast, slap and splash and light-on-drops. But underneath - everything's slow, lunar, with weeds & shadows & long white legs. "The Return" isn't a song about swimming but it's a song about all those other things: dip, slip, gleam, flash, hide & find, rise & dive, love and ache, belly-flop, cannonball, swan's flight. It's like The Microphones as produced by The Neptunes (or like a wedding ring in a trout's belly). Adam's found a way to fold butterflies in half.

It's one of the most richly Canadian albums in years & years, and I haven't yet found all the right words.

But - do you like pennies? Do you like polaroids? Do you like going swimming? You'll like Amethyst Amulet. Order it here. Dan wrote about "Bumble Bee" yesterday, I wrote about "Stupid Ocean" for the National Post last month, and there are yet more songs at the Adam & the Amethysts MySpace page. The album will be released in June on The Luyas' Pome Records. It's the kind of thing people are going to be whispering about.

Are you a promoter? I think Adam's trying to book shows.

[photograph by Elina Virtanen]