Cannot fall into the familiar. Perhaps this phrase, like none other on Poorfolk’s upcoming sophomore release best describes the sonic trudge forward of this Montreal-cum-Ottawa quartet.

If Poorfolk’s first album was a work of classic bedroom rock, these new recordings showcase a different sound entirely: singer-guitarist Jonathan Pearce’s personal/political lyrics are still recognizable, but are now bolstered by a muscular rhythm section, frantic, dueling guitar interplay and gang-chanting choruses. So…what happened to that guy-and-a-four-track bedroom rock from the first record? Where did this sweaty indie-rock rave-up come from?

For Poorfolk it happened back on familiar ground. While 5,000 bands were busy crowding into Montreal’s shit-hot hipster clubs, Jonathan Pearce and Scott Freeman got out and back to their sleepy hometown of Ottawa, a place they once swore over a steely-eyed blood-brother stare they’d never return.

Whereas the first Poorfolk offering was written solely by Pearce in a lo-fi four-track setting, these new songs came together on home turf with the addition of new members Matt Godin and Dave Clark. Perhaps it was the capital city’s underlying rigidity or maybe just a harkening back to the local indie scene that the members cut their teeth on – but the music on Poorfolk’s forthcoming release is the result.

The music has definite echoes of the nineties indie rock the guys grew up on but increasingly the influences track back further…to the early eighties college scene and ‘Reckoning’-era R.E.M. in particular.

Recorded at Ottawa’s Legendary Little Bullhorn Productions by Jarrett Bartlett and Dave Draves and mastered by Harris Newman in Montreal, Poorfolk’s “Our Burning Street” is set for official release in July 2008 on Vancouver’s White Whale Records.

Poorfolk has shared the stage with: The Dears, Of Montreal, Aaron Booth, Gentlemen Reg, Matt Pond PA, Greg Macpherson, Greenfield Main, among others.