On Tuesday night Sloan held the CD release party for their new disc "Never Hear The End of It" at the unlikely yet very pleasant Lula Lounge. The evening was an intimate showcase for an audience of mostly friends and family, and their set was comprised of 100% new songs representing about 2/3 of their new 30-track album. The songs were well recieved, with big cheers for the new radio single "Who Taught You To Live Like That" and the finally-released Sloan rarity "Ill Placed Trust". There were moments of brilliance and moments of bumbling yet charming awkwardness (including forgetting the words to some of the barely rehearsed tracks). They bid goodnight with grins, but no encore - a move that left some muttering "how hard would it have been to finish with an encore of just one or two classics?" But that miff aside, overall it was very refreshing to see the band being "real", sans the usual Sloan rockstar antics and Chris Murphy hamming. A new leaf? Their Canadian tour kicks off today with dates around the maritimes and Ontario, including a show at the Koolhaus October 6th, so we will soon find out.

(Additional show photos: HERE).