Stab Ability - Work On Love

Work On Love, the recent release by Montreal’s Stab Ability (by way of Chicago and Halifax), is a nine-track electro space vehicle that transports you to far off galaxies. This album showers the listener with a variety of electric noises and sounds, which are playfully added and subtracted throughout the entire 50 minute LP. At times you feel as if these noises could be the sound coming from your aural spaceship, at other times you think maybe you’ve stumbled on some distant life form eaves dropping on their conversations, or perhaps it’s the sound stars make when you pass them by. Amongst the pulses and cacophony of noises and effects, Stab Ability’s Eli Hason and Jon Hill, ensure that there is just enough structure so that you don’t make a wrong turn and head down some one-way vortex. 

The album begins strongly with the aptly named “Wander”, whose upbeat feel fills you with a desire for exploration. “Coin Locker” builds from a slow wave to a blob of a pulse that ensnares you.

“Catface Mountain Tidepools” continues with a darker narrative infused with really dissonant sounds. These sounds are eventually subdued only to claw there way back near the end of the track in a dizzying mix of noise and chaos.

A true highlight of the album, “Here Come The Summerpunks” is a track engulfed by wafts of synth that seem almost endless in length. Alongside which are beautifully interwoven subtle sounds.

“Divine Swap” begins with a variety of different noises pulsing in and around your head, slowly building to a nice steady groove. 

The album’s otherworldly theme is held throughout, accentuated by its dissonant sounds. An album such as this has the potential to fall of the rails, but this does not happen in this case. Montreal’s music scene is wonderfully diverse and Stab Ability’s Work On Love adds to this tapestry. 

FINAL MARK : B+