''Aim Right for the Holes in Their Lives'' is the second album from Canadian

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

group

Novillero Novillero is a Canadian indie pop band formed in 1999 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Their musical style has been dubbed "mod-pop". History Novillero was formed in 1999 by keyboardist Roberta Dempster, guitarist Sean Stevens, and keyboardist-guitarist ...

. It was released on

Mint Records Mint Records is a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based independent record label founded in 1991, by friends and campus radio enthusiasts Randy Iwata and Bill Baker. Mint has put out over 150 releases, several of which have won Juno Awards. His ...

in 2005.

Critical reception

David Bernard of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television ...

'' said, "The hooks are plentiful, the arrangements are varied, the melodies are memorable and immediate, and the horns are tastefully implemented... With so many highlights, it remains difficult to criticize the more mediocre tracks because they would sound amazing on other releases when sandwiched between other mediocre tracks. An album rich with perfection can have a minor slip-up every once and a while. In this case, I suppose I can excuse those instances." Jason Ankeny of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

said, "This near-perfect debut is most firmly aligned with fellow Vancouver pop dynamos and Mint labelmates the New Pornographers, sharing their knack for whip-smart melodies and ingratiating choruses. ''Aim Right for the Holes in Their Lives'' is a classicist pop record in every sense, recalling the halcyon days of AM radio – virtually every song sounds like a forgotten hit from 1975, extolling virtues like buoyancy and grandeur as though they never went out of style."

Track listing

All music written by

, lyrics by Rod Slaughter except "Abbey" and "Insomnia" music and lyrics by Grant Johnson. # "Laissez-Faire System" – 3:20 # "The Hypothesist" – 3:16 # "The Art of Carrying On" – 3:36 # "Abbey" – 3:20 # "Morally Deficient Business" – 3:21 # "Aim Right for the Holes in Their Lives" – 3:56 # "Gaining Ground / Losing Sight" – 3:23 # "Insomnia" – 4:14 # "Dean" – 3:00 # "Aptitude" – 4:18 # "Habit Over Heart" – 3:38 # "Let's Pull Over Here" – 5:05

References

{{Authority control 2005 albums Novillero albums Mint Records albums