Heartbreakthrough Review by Nick Crewen, The Record Night Life. Thursday, August 10, 2000

Bryan Potvin

Heartbreakthrough

(Klementine / Universal)

With the exception of Walter Zwol, Bryan Potvin may be the only Canadian musician who has seen life from both sides of the fence.

The former -- and reconstituted -- Northern Pikes singer had a spell as a director with Mercury Records before it was squished into the Universal family, so you'd think he'd be an expert on how to make a hit record.

Yet that's what's so refreshing about Heartbreakthrough.

Unlike the formulaic Northern Pikes of yore, this album offers heartfelt slices of relationship pie that isn't designed for radio formats. That doesn't mean this music doesn't belong on the air, for Potvin's melodic pop instincts are right on the money. The lyrical power of such great songs as Darling, You Live in a Dreamworld is life's drama at it's best, cutting through to the emotional core of Potvin's sentiment, without resorting to compromise.

Heartbreakthrough is a record of gravity and in today's lightweight pop world, that isn't such a bad thing.