A Band With An Impact -- Crash Test Dummies Steer A New Course

Concert preview

Crash Test Dummies with Somebody's Daughter, 8:30 p.m. tomorrow, Backstage; sold out; 781-2805. -------------------------------------------------------------------

Some roving eyes in the pop-critic world have pointed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, as a possible Next Big Scene for new music. As long as they're eyeing unlikely Canadian cities, they might do well to look at Winnipeg, Manitoba.

There may or may not be much of a scene up there. But there are the Crash Test Dummies, Canada's answer to England's Fairport Convention. The music, rooted in folk, builds from there with computerized instruments, careful production and the insistent pulse of contemporary rock.

With `Shuffled,' a shift

"God Shuffled His Feet," the quintet's second album, marks the end of a two-year hiatus and a fundamental shift in focus. The Dummies' evolution from 1991's "The Ghosts That Haunt Me" to the present is one of simplification; varying arrangements and the adoption of obvious folk styles have given way to the controlled flow of ideas within a set texture. Mandolins, accordions and pianos still surface, but are not ends in themselves.

Singer/guitarist Brad Roberts writes slyly jaunty tunes, underscored by his Leonard Cohen-esque rumble. The title song begins with a strange, quasi-industrial stutter, maintained through the song's otherwise gentle lilt. "Swimming In Your Ocean" and "When I Go Out With Artists" are little romps much like Fleetwood Mac, and "How Does A Duck Know?" throws in some guitar crunch. Keyboardist Ellen Reid adds backing vocals, sounding like a chorus all by herself.

Religiously toned words

Roberts' lyrics are accurately captured by the album art's depiction of the band in the manner of such painters as Manet and Titian; introspective, often religiously toned words dealing with such subjects as illness, addiction and human frailty. In the title track, God holds a picnic for an inquisitive group and tells a bizarre tale of a boy with blue hair. Unable to explain, "God shuffled his feet and looked around him/The people cleared their throats and stared right back at him."

"When I Go Out With Artists" pokes fun at boozy art circles with lines like "I try to catch their meanings/And keep up with their martinis" and "What if the artists ran the TV?/All the ads would be for fine whiskey." Drinking surfaces subtly and unnervingly in "I Think I'll Disappear Now," with the opener "Running into you like this without warning/Is like catching a sniff of tequila in the morning."

"How Does A Duck Know?" paints a harrowing picture of living as torture, and "Swimming In Your Ocean" and "In The Days Of The Caveman" reflect on humanity's role in the natural world.

"God Shuffled His Feet" came into being with help from some heavy hitters. Jerry Harrison, evidently unfazed by Roberts' slap at former Talking Heads band mate David Byrne in "Artists," co-produced, and guitar pioneer Adrian Belew played on the title song.

Also performing at tomorrow night's show are Somebody's Daughter, a local, politically charged folk-rock band.