Whitehorse

Musical marriages of real-life married couples can be a tricky thing -- the road is littered with the artistic and romantic casualties of husband-and-wife teams who tried to make the shift from domestic bliss to a shared sonic identity. Whitehorse, however -- a duo consisting of married Canadian singer/songwriters Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland -- seem to have beaten the odds. Their self-titled debut record manages to amplify the musical personalities of both artists successfully. McClelland and Doucet had each been tending their own solo careers for a decade or so before starting Whitehorse, and both artists had been making their own inroads on the Canadian roots music scene, but these tracks find them crafting a more forceful, visceral sound together. Not counting the brief sonic experiments that bookend the record, McClelland and Doucet offer up new versions of both the former's "Passenger 24" and the latter's "Broken," as well as three new songs and a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" that lends the Boss' Born in the U.S.A. tune a bit of a Sun Records-era Johnny Cash feel. While both Doucet and McClelland have shifted back and forth from low-key, contemplative tunes to arch, angular productions on their own releases, the focus for Whitehorse seems to be a swampy, bluesy brand of roots rock, with a side order of alt-country/Americana thrown in for extra flavor. For another pair of troubadours, this might be a less successful move, but as they've both shown in the past, McClelland and Doucet both have strong enough songwriting chops to make their stylistic shifts feel like more than mere genre exercises. ~ J. Allen