Cascadia

If Said The Whale were trying to draw musical sketches of their Pacific Northwest/Vancouver home, mission accomplished and then some. The trio’s sixth album captures the rugged beauty and chill personalities tucked along the Gulf Islands area to the sounds of snappy indie rock and dreamy pop. There's a compassionate streak running throughout (“Wake Up,” “Love Always,” “Love Don't Ask”) that's refreshing as a brisk mountain stream. Meanwhile, all that’s missing from “Record Shop” is the odor of mildew, what with its chorus tapping into a miasma familiar to vinyl fiends: “Leave me alone at the record shop, I wish I could drop a million bucks.” Said The Whale also makes room for intimate sojourns, like “Gambier Island Green,” a personal memento of singer-guitarist Ben Worcester. Once played just for his family, it gets a sublime studio treatment, opening up his living room to the world. And that's what Cascadia does best: serve as a living portrait of a band at their peak and a community they love.