After getting his boots dirty with the low-key Halifax alt-country outfit The Guthries, Matt Mays went solo in 2002, plugging in and jamming out on Crazy Horse–style turns like “City of Lakes.” Recruiting a proper backing band, El Torpedo, for 2005's self-titled release, Mays emerged as Canada's foremost roots-rock rebel thanks to intense, radio-burning anthems like “Cocaine Cowboy” and open-sunroof road-trip sing-alongs like “On the Hood.” And after El Torpedo disbanded in 2009, Mays' arena-sized ambitions have only become more pronounced, yielding the organ-swirled hip-shaker “Faint of Heart” and the country-rocking “Indio.”