Sara Lapsley was once in a riot grrl band. At some point, it apparently stopped being cool to be in a riot grrl band, and so its participants left for greener pastures. Corin Tucker continued to wail convincingly with Sleater-Kinney; Kathleen Hanna took up Casios and became Julie Ruin. Lapsley found the piano and started making pop music.

It would’ve been interesting to hear Lapsley’s previous band, Kreviss, because on the basis of Vancover Nights’ sole album and her vocal duties with local supergroup the Gay, you’d never believe her previous life in a tremedously noisy punk band. There are no screeching guitars here, just some saccharine, upbeat piano pop, backed by the likes of Dan Bejar and Carl Newman of the New Pornographers. The pleasures of Vancouver Nights are but simple ones, but pleasures all the same.

It might be a stretch to call Neko Case the best country singer out there today—not while some of the old legends are still out there, and not while she’s banned from appearing at the Grand Ol’ Opry (for taking off her top during a hot performance; possibly apocryphal, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone if it wasn’t). It wouldn’t be much of one, though; it’s more a lack of exposure than anything else that keeps her a secret to most American country lovers (topless stint notwithstanding). On the other hand, having the #1 song on a John Peel best-of-year list has to count for something, right?

I’ve never had the chance to see Case do any of her own material in concert, although I have seen her sing (with Carolyn Mark and Kelly Hogan, no less), so I had no idea who sang the high parts on “Porchlight” until I saw an archived concert webcast of one of her Toronto shows. Turns out it’s Neko Case herself, adding impeccable vocal range to her list of talents.

Case has always considered herself a Canadian, despite the lack of official paperwork. She went to school in Vancouver and played the drums for Maow, a local punk band. She’s played numerous shows with Blue Rodeo’s recurring Starlight Picnic, which used to be held on Toronto’s historic Fort York site. To this day, her albums are released on Bloodshot in the U.S., and Vancouver’s own Mint Records in Canada. She’s even joked repeatedly about the lengths she’d have to go to to become a Canadian citizen for real. So it makes sense that Canadian Amp would come out; it’s Case’s love letter to her adopted country. 

The EP, distributed only on tour and through her record label websites (although I found a copy in a Toronto record store; shhh…), is a short and sweet affair consisting mostly of covers. “In California” was originally penned by Lisa Marr of the now-defunct Vancouver band Cub, who can probably be best described as cuddle-core (on a side note: I don’t know where I picked up that term, but I feel slightly dirty). It’s a wistful track, and the opening lines fit perfectly with the EP’s raison d’etre: “In California, I dream of snow / in all the places we used to go.”

This is a rough mix of a track from the possibly-shelved Extraordinary Machine album, which is practically finished but without a release date or promotion plans. The story goes that Sony can’t find a good radio single and generally don’t know how to promote the album. Insert standard “what-the-fuck?” diatribe here. 

The ID3 for the track even has some hints on the album’s production, complete with (possibly faked? but why?) truncated notes discussing the mix. Unlike the fairy-tale orchestra of “Extraordinary Machine,” this track is a little closer to what you’d normally expect from Apple, with the hustle and bustle of “Criminal” tied to the more elaborate arrangements reminiscent of When The Pawn… It also makes a more convincing case for the new album than its title track did. 

Obviously, no word on when this will come out, if ever.