The Tragically Hip: In Violet Light : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Kingston, Ontario's beloved statesmen, the Tragically Hip, are classic for their musical meandering of philosophical debates. Whether it's on the basics of love or the natural compositions of this Earth, the Hip are intrinsically ready. In Violet Light, the band's ninth album and debut for Rounder, says so, and the honesty is there. Frontman Gordon Downie is lyrically oblique but poetically chaotic without a punch. "It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken" and "Throwing off Glass" rise with a sheer freshness, while "Are You Ready" and the jangly "The Darkest One" spark typical Hip optimism. The lively "Use It Up" dances around a quote by writer Raymond Carver, and the ambitious drive of "Silver Jet" marks highbrow efficiency at its finest. On In Violet Light, the Tragically Hip stick to their sensible formula of emotionally and sonically charged rock songs, and it works again.

MACKENZIE WILSON
(June 11, 2002)