Stop us if you've heard this one before: The Sadies walk into a bar with their pet gorillas.

They -- The Sadies, not the gorillas -- set up their gear and proceed to play the songs off their fourth album Stories Often Told. Like their first three records, these dozen Greg Keelor-produced tracks are mostly dark, rootsy numbers -- about half are instrumentals -- with guitars that twang and echo like an Ennio Morricone score for Beach Blanket Bingo.

Peppered throughout the set, though, these Toronto alt-country kingpins throw in a few curve balls: A downhearted cover of Blue Rodeo's Palace of Gold (under the title The Story's Often Told); a sprawling cinematic journey called Mile Over Mecca, complete with horns; and a psychedelic excursion called Tiger Tiger that sounds like Wilco jamming with The Byrds. The gorillas sit placidly onstage throughout the set, and after the show, they -- The Sadies, not the gorillas -- take the simians over to the bar and buy them beers. "That'll be $10 each," the barkeep says, and then adds, "You know, we don't get many gorillas in here."

To which guitarists Dallas and Travis Good reply in unison: "Well, at $10 a beer, it's no wonder." (More on The Sadies)

Track Listing
1. Lay Down Your Arms
2. Oak Ridges
3. The Story's Often Told
4. A#1
5. Within a Stone
6. Mile Over Mecca
7. A Steep Climb
8. Such a Little Word
9. Tiger Tiger
10. Of Our Land
11. Monkey & Cork