Album Review: Petric, Flashbacks

There are two quasi-ballads on Flashbacks, the latest from buzzy Canuck trio Petric, that really ought to be heard, for quite different reasons. Plus, each represents a welcome detour from the album’s almost relentlessly upbeat vibe and gleaming sonics which kinda sorta blend eventually, even while remaining impeccably pleasant.

“White Lyin’” explores the fall-out when a guy tells a girl he loves her even though he really doesn’t but blurted out the words recklessly. Remorseful ownership of a bad decision is not a topic you come across every day, especially not in country music, and it’s an absolute emotional knee-capper. It’s also way more powerful than Meat Loaf’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” which poked around the same theme but took almost 10 minutes to nail it while winking into the rear-view mirror.

At the other end of the thematic spectrum is “If I Was Your Man,” a pitiful lament from a guy relegated to friend status by his dream girl, who accepts doormat treatment from her boyfriend, then cries on her friend’s shoulder as his heart shatters. If singer Tom Petric sounded any more wounded, I’d be seriously worried; his delivery here is truly affecting.

So, there’s that. Which means that Flashbacks’ more upbeat — and undeniably accomplished — moments such as “Kids” (recalling fun youth), “Single Problem” (problem solved thanks to you, babe), “Safe with Me” (as in, your heart is…) and buoyant, radio-perfect focus track “All Who Wander,” while super-hummable, seem oddly conventional by comparison. Then again, viewed from a gloomy, in-lockdown January perspective, that could be the vodka talking.

Flashbacks was released January 13, 2021
Listen to it here