[10.02] I don't claim to know much about the Canadian indie scene, or if there is even one of which to speak of these days, but I do know one thing: Toronto-based singer/songwriter Hayden Desser is as good as any contemporary this side of the Great Lakes…including Elliott Smith (yeah, I said it).

For those of you familiar with his previous works, 1996's Everything I Long For and 1998's The Closer I Get, Skyscraper National Park will be something of a slight departure. His baritone and trademark growling are almost, but not completely, replaced by a beautifully simple falsetto. The music itself, like in the last album, features more accompaniment to go along with his acoustic guitar. The songs are more melodic and, dare I say it, the album as a whole actually has an upbeat feel (at least for Hayden) in much the same way that his previous albums did not.

Together, the songs on Skyscraper comprise of a lo-fi indie classic that manages to stir emotions and at times even creep you out. Hayden's introspective lyrics make you feel as if his private thoughts are invading your head. For instance, in "Bass Song" he describes a sort of nightmare of his house being broken into, which ends with him being found dead five days later with his bass guitar in his hands. In "Dynamite Walls," he sings about getting away from the city to nature: "…city lights turn to tree lines, national park signs…" a pleasant theme for a song. But then he reminds us that we can all be a bit tortured with a sort of hopelessness as he adds, "it doesn't matter what any of us is looking for/ we'll never find it because it's not even there."

Despite Hayden being labeled, by some, as a kind of "inde-folk" artist, Skyscraper rocks with more of a hint of country than folk—although labeling it a "country-rock" album would be constricting as well. Whatever people decide to call it, it is Hayden's best, most mature work yet. You get the feeling that there is almost no way that any of the words he sings can be contrived. It is warm and honest without being sappy or whiney; which probably dooms it as a mainstream success, but since he originally intended to print only 100 copies anyway, I'm sure this won't bring him down at all. In any case, Hayden now joins an elite class of indie singer/songwriters who can not quite be labeled as any one thing—he simply writes great lyrics for good songs. —Matthew