With a full slate of touring across Canada in the late autumn that picks up again in Spring 2026, Sloan released their 14th studio album – Based On The Best Seller. Splitting up the writing duties, each member contributes a few songs including a couple of tracks that date back to the 90s. Guitarist Patrick Petland enters with a few stompers that incorporate 70s arena rock swagger, shown on “Dream Destroyer” and “So Far Down”.
Fellow guitarist Jay Ferguson’s tracks mix the 60s with some 90s indie rock guitar before throwing in some country guitar strumming on “Collect Yourself”. Drummer Andrew Scott’s contributions are a bit heavier, bringing in crunching guitars on “Baxter” and “No Damn Fears”. Bassist Chris Murphy reaches back to the 90s to resurrect the sunny 60s pop of the “Open Your Umbrellas” and also throws in the horn driven “Fortune Teller”.
Based On The Best Seller takes in decades of guitar sounds to form twelve decent rock tracks. It can be infectious but overall, Ferguson sums up much of the album with the line, “Trim off some parts and recycle if need be”. The band originally from Nova Scotia is a wildly talented group but here, it does have a feeling of “good enough” for them to have a few new songs to play on tour.
7/10
The Light Appears 