?One bad woman ain?t gonna take apart my head/ You keep what you pay for/ You keep what you need/ Misery?s a woman and it grows like a sea? Wiley oozes on the seductive song ?One Bad Woman?. Sandpaper vocals have always set crooner Nathan Wiley apart from his East Coast contemporaries. Now, into his third album The City Destroyed Me- 2007, a follow- up to the lauded 2004 recording High Low, it?s Wiley?s lyricism, as well as his sultry sounds, that will hold this Islander a place within the burgeoning Canadian scene. Wiley enlisted Los Lobos sideman Steve Berlin to produce (Tragically Hip, Faith No More) the album and the result is a darker rock architecture propelling each track. Wiley takes the tight guitar rifts and pounding drums of his signature sound and bathes them in a foreboding feel that the previous albums lacked. Each song evokes a slightly different mood without feeling out of place. From the clang of the tambourine backing the opener ?One of the Worst Ones? to the of the foot tapping hip swaying final track ?Fist Full of Throttle? Wiley?s catchy melodies get into your head and his eerie charm will haunt you.

By Bridget Arsenault
Jul 31, 2007