Ducks Ltd. - Modern Fiction (5 Year Anniversary Edition)

Toronto’s Ducks Ltd. (formerly Ducks Unlimited), the bright jangle-pop duo of Tom McGreevy (lead vocal,
guitar, bass, keyboards) and Evan Lewis (guitar, bass, drum programming), accomplish the impossible. The
pair craft songs that play to very specific inspirations without drowning underneath them—immediately
evidenced on their critically acclaimed EP, Get Bleak, and sharpened on Modern Fiction, their debut LP.
“The Servants, The Clean, The Chills, The Bats, Television Personalities, Felt,” Evan rattles off. “Look Blue
Go Purple is one I reference a lot with our production.” Echoes of ‘80s indiepop abound, but they never
overwhelm. This is not a nostalgic record, after all, nor is it a derivative one. Instead, across 10 cheery-
sounding songs,
Ducks Ltd. explore contemporary society in decline, examining large scale human disaster through personal
turmoil (hence the title, taken from a university course called Gnosticism and Nihilism in Modern Fiction,
influenced by Graham Greene novels.Bookish indie fans, look no further.)
Fearful that limited and expensive studio time would kneecap the project creatively, eroding their charming
naivete, the pair re-recorded the album in a storage space owned by Evan’s boss. Ornamentation through
collaboration
followed: there’s Aaron Goldstein on Pedal Steel in the Go-Betweens’ “Cattle and Cane”-channeling
interlude “Patience Wearing Thin,” Eliza Niemi on cello (“18 Cigarettes,” a song loosely inspired by a 1997
Oasis performance of “Don’t Go Away”), and backing harmonies from Carpark labelmates The Beths (on an
ode to friendship at a distance, “How Lonely Are You?,”
“Always There,” and on the sped-up Syd Barrett stylings of “Under The Rolling Moon.”) While in his native
Australia due to covid-19, Evan worked closely with producer James Cecil (The Goon Sax, Architecture in
Helsinki) on Modern Fiction’s finishing touches—at one point, in the mountains of the Macedon Ranges in
Victoria, recorded a string quartet (featured on “Fit to Burst,” “Always There,” “Sullen Leering Hope,” “Twere
Ever Thus,” “Grand Final Day.”)
It’s danceable, depressive fun, with some relief: in “Always There” and “Sullen Leering Hope,” Modern
Fiction’s faithful heart.
Tracklisting
Side A 1. How Lonely Are You? 2. Old Times 3. 18 Cigarettes 4. Under the Rolling Moon 5. Fit to Burst
Side B 6. Patience Wearing Thin 7. Always There 8. Sullen Leering Hope 9. ‘Twere Ever Thus 10. Grand
Final Day

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