An affable student of rock history with a boyish grin, Sam Roberts exploded onto the Canadian rock scene when his 2002 EP The Inhuman Condition caught fire off the strength of its first two singles. “Brother Down” was a drowsy, druggy transmission from a campfire on some southern beach; “Don't Walk Away Eileen” was a goofy plea to a mature partner fed up with Roberts' childish antics. He parlayed that initial success into five straight albums in the Top 3 of the Canadian charts, from the dense and snarling Chemical City to the stylistically broad, ambitious Love At the End of the World. He's one of Canada's greatest contemporary hidden treasures.