''Reconstruction Site'' is the third studio album by

The Weakerthans The Weakerthans are an award-winning and Juno-nominated Canadian indie rock band from Winnipeg. The band, led by John K. Samson, has released four studio albums and is currently inactive. History The band was formed in 1997 in Winnipeg, Manito ...

, released on August 26, 2003. A song cycle about grief, regret, loss and eventual hope, the album is thematically framed by three tracks, "(Manifest)", "(Hospital Vespers)" and "(Past-Due)", which set three different

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...

s following a terminally ill hospital patient into the aftermath of his death to the same melody. Other songs examine the album's themes from different angles: "Plea from a Cat Named Virtute"Some sources give the title as "Virtue" rather than "Virtute". The title is correctly spelled "Virtute" and pronounced "Vir-too-tay". is written from the perspective of a depressed person's cat, "One Great City!" is about Samson's love–hate relationship with his hometown of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

, and "Our Retired Explorer" imagines a dinner date between philosopher

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and ho ...

and a hopelessly nostalgic member of

Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of A ...

's expedition to

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...

. Guest musicians on the album include

Sarah Harmer Sarah Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist. Early life Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musician's lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sist ...

and Christine Fellows. The album's cover art was designed by Canadian artist and fellow Winnipegger Marcel Dzama. The song "One Great City!" serves as the theme song to the Canadian television comedy-drama series '' Less Than Kind''. In 2013, the album made

Ballast Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship, ...

's list of top 50 Canadian albums of all time.Bergman, Andrew J
"The 50 Greatest Canadian Albums of All Time"
"

", Feb 13, 2013 accessed Feb 14, 2013.

Track listing

All songs by The Weakerthans and all lyrics by

John K. Samson John Kristjan Samson (born 1973) is a Canadian musician from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is a singer-songwriter and best known as the frontman of the Canadian indie folk/rock band The Weakerthans. He also played bass in the punk band Propagandhi duri ...

. #"(Manifest)" – 1:45 #"The Reasons" – 2:50 #"Reconstruction Site" – 2:45 #"Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call" – 2:45 #"Plea from a Cat Named Virtute" – 3:49 #"Our Retired Explorer (Dines with

in Paris, 1961)" – 2:23 #" Time's Arrow" – 2:53 #"(Hospital Vespers)" – 1:41 #"Uncorrected Proofs" – 2:42 #"A New Name for Everything" – 4:04 #"One Great City!" – 2:55 #"Benediction" – 3:28 #"The Prescience of Dawn" – 4:37 #"(Past-Due)" – 2:10

References

{{Authority control 2003 albums The Weakerthans albums Albums with cover art by Marcel Dzama