The best songs by each member of Sloan

--taken from: CBC music

by: Dave Shumka

Canadian indie rock heroes Sloan recently announced plans for an ambitious new album. The idea is for a double album — that's four sides of vinyl — with each band member taking lead singing and songwriting duties for their own side. Of course, the band has always split songwriting and singing duties; whoever wrote them didn't have any bearing on their sequence in the tracklist.

The new album idea sounds like a showcase of four frontmen. And to highlight this, we've put together the top five songs by each member of Sloan thus far in their 20-plus-year career, to give an idea of what we may expect.

These lists were compiled by one man (me) who admittedly favours the band's first five albums (and that doesn't make him a bad person). Let us know in the comments below or tweet @CBC_Music, what's your favourite song by each member?

Chris Murphy's 5 best Sloan songs

5. “Penpals” (Twice Removed): Track 1 from the band's best album, pieced together from someone else's fan mail.

4. “Someone I Can Be True With” (Never Hear the End of It): A sweet, short song with some charmingly forced rhymes.

3. “She Says What She Means” (Navy Blues): The opening riff may be Sloan's best.

2. “Underwhelmed” (Smeared): The band's early alt hit with clever lyrics that reveal new meaning with each listen.

1. “Deeper Than Beauty” (Twice Removed): It almost seems like a throwaway recording with just guitar and drums, and it seems like it was written by a 13-year-old, but that's what makes it endearing. It's become a sing-along favourite at live shows, even though nobody can hit that high note.

Jay Ferguson's 5 best Sloan songs

5. “C’Mon C’Mon” (Navy Blues): One of many songs in which Ferguson perfectly evokes Time-Life's AM Gold series.

4. “I Hate My Generation” (Twice Removed): Ferguson shares lead vocals and overlapping lyrics with Murphy on this track that features the mindlessly fun "S-E-A-N-S-A-I-D" shouts.

3. “The Lines You Amend” (One Chord to Another): Remember that thing I said about AM Gold? That, again, with handclaps.

2. “Snowsuit Sound” (Twice Removed): Another handclap bonanza, this song follows "Deeper Than Beauty" on Twice Removed and matches its early adolescent romance.

1. “Don’t You Believe a Word” (Between the Bridges): I actually have no idea what this song is about but it's my favourite Sloan song. It's got those syrupy harmonies, and when Ferguson says, "C'mon, boy," it's just the greatest.

Patrick Pentland's 5 best Sloan songs

5. “Iggy and Angus” (Navy Blues): An ode to classic rock complete with throwback guitarmonies.

4. “A Long Time Coming” (Between the Bridges): Pentland sings Between the Bridges' first two rocking singles, but this twangy number overshadows them. And more guitarmonies!

3. “Money City Maniacs” (Navy Blues): Somewhere around One Chord to Another, Pentland became the primary writer of the band's radio singles, and they've never had a bigger one than this.

2. “I Can Feel It” (Twice Removed): A duet with Jennifer Pierce of Jale, and I'm just realizing I'm really into those sweet songs at the end of Twice Removed.

1. “Everything You’ve Done Wrong” (One Chord to Another): As the band's lead guitarist, Pentland leaves room for two memorable solos in this almost flawless pop song.

Andrew Scott's 5 best Sloan songs

5. “Delivering Maybes” (Between the Bridges): Scott is primarily the band's drummer, and his songs are generally complicated and cerebral, but that doesn't mean he can't write hooks.

4. “A Side Wins” (One Chord to Another): As Beatlesque as Sloan gets, the sinister jangly piano gives way to "Yellow Submarine"-style radio squawks and a cool piano breakdown.

3. “500 Up” (Smeared): Hey, wanna know what 1992 sounded like? Scott wrote this song but shares vocals with Pentland and Murphy, and it's just the fuzziest.

2. “On the Horizon” (Navy Blues): A flurry of words and horn blasts that sounds like it's about to fall apart a few times. In fact, you're never really sure whether the band or you has lost the beat, but you both always pull it together for the chorus.

1. “People of the Sky” (Twice Removed): Possibly Scott's most popular song, it's a bittersweet tune that's at once upbeat and mopey, with sad barbershop background vocals. Like many of Scott's songs, it has a really cool breakdown.

--taken from: CBC music