Sam Roberts - We Were Born in a Flame

Montreal’s Sam Roberts is already a Canrock success story: his six-song EP, The Inhuman Condition, spawned three hit singles with “Brother Down,” “Don’t Walk Away Eileen” and “Where Have All the Good People Gone.” Now Roberts is going global with his album debut, which includes those three memorable pop tunes and a dozen others. Best new songs: the chugging “Hard Road,” the chiming “Climb Over Me” and “Canadian Dream,” a wry dig at socialism in the Great White North. “Everything moves real slow,” sings Roberts, “when it’s 40 below.”