Looks Linear does not have plans for world domination or chart smashing success. Its members don’t ever expect to rock the mainstage at Coachella or to tour with Kanye and Gaga. That’s not what they expect, that’s not what they’re about and, more to the point, that’s not even what they want.
Rather, they’re a band that epitomizes the idea of “doing it for the music” because, unlike most bands, they can’t reasonably expect anything more. Comprised of four professionals (a lawyer, a CBC web guy, a marketer and a product manager—and yes, there’s a joke in there somewhere), who can’t very well abandon their careers and families to go out on the road 150 days a year, Looks Linear want nothing more than to share a few stories with you before going back to their daily grind and the beautiful, comfortable obscurity of domestic life.
Brandishing a finely tuned array of undeniably Canadian pop and rock tunes that vaguely recall old Paul Westerberg and even older Neil Young, Looks Linear’s stories are traditional and timeless: Family, pain, love and loss. The counterpunch to these complex, heavy notions is found in the band’s relentlessly upbeat and playful attitude towards them.
“I love writing songs,” says Brodie Christ (vocals, guitar) and succinctly, that’s why Looks Linear exists. Plainly put, there’s nothing more simple and honest than that. Yet with one self-released album already out in the world and another one set for release in February, 2010, it’s even more obvious that while Looks Linear has no plans to take the music industry by storm, they’re not and never have been mere hobbyists.
At its heart, Looks Linear is a hardworking Toronto band hoping only to make good in its hometown and, maybe one day, its home country, because modest dreams are dreams all the same.