Ducks Ltd.’s acclaimed new album “Harm’s Way” is out today via Carpark Records. The Toronto duo’s sophomore LP has been earning glowing press, including features at Stereogum, FLOOD Magazine, Brooklyn Vegan, Exclaim!, while its singles “Heavy Bag,” “Train Full of Gasoline,” “Hollowed Out,” and “The Main Thing” have caught the attention of Paste, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and Uproxx, among others.
Ducks Ltd. make inviting and frenetic guitar pop for when life feels overwhelming. While the band’s songs are ostensibly breezy, a palpable anxiety boils underneath that communicates something deeper about everyday existence.
On “Harm’s Way”, the duo of McGreevy and guitarist Evan Lewis hones in on interpersonal and societal collapses, urban decay, and the near-impossibility of keeping a level head when everything around you seems to be falling apart. Even with its often dark subject matter, the album is Ducks Ltd.’s most vividly rendered and collaborative collection yet. It’s an undeniable evolution for the band, not just in how these songs soar, but in their entire writing and recording processes. Composed on tour while supporting acts like Nation of Language, Illuminati Hotties, and Archers of Loaf, “Harm’s Way” displays the band’s finely tuned songcraft and well-earned, road-tested confidence.
The band, fortified by this strong sense of sonic identity and a self-assurance in their new material—and in contrast to their acclaimed 2021 debut LP “Modern Fiction” and their 2019 EP “Get Bleak”, both self-recorded and self-produced in a Toronto basement—wanted to bring “Harm’s Way” to life in a new city, with an outside producer, and with some of their favourite musicians. Working with producer Dave Vettraino (Dehd, Deeper, Lala Lala), they enlisted a marquee cast of Windy City collaborators to round out the tracks on “Harm’s Way“, including: Finom’s Macie Stewart (violin, string arrangements); Ratboys’ Marcus Nuccio (drums on most tracks); Dehd’s Jason Balla (who helped arrange the backing vocals, to which he also contributed); and backing vocals from Julia Steiner (Ratboys), Nathan O’Dell (Dummy), Margaret McCarthy (Moontype), Rui De Magalhaes (Lawn), and Lindsey-Paige McCloy (Patio). The band’s touring drummer, Jonathan Pappo, and bassist Julia Wittman also appear on the LP.
The Fat Angel Sings 