The Assistants, a Toronto-based quintet led by singer/songwriters Kiley Meehan and Ciaran Megahey, have been steadily gaining a repuation for their brand of inspired, melodic jangle-rock. In 2007 their self-titled album was released to glowing reviews in Canada and abroad. 2008 marks the release of their new EP Fiction.

Recorded at Sleepytown Sound (Born Ruffians, Most Serene Republic), Fiction is a strong step forward and a short burst of sparkling pop in the most classic sense. Guitars chime, pianos ring and trumpets flare, creating an evocative backdrop at once familiar and forward-thinking. Fiction starts things off in a rousing fashion, a contagious glam-rock stomp that always threatens to burst. Next, the Assistant make a plunge into the cinematic Stop Dead, a tightly wound ode to lost romance echoing the brightest moments of the Smiths and the Go-Betweens. With When the Rain Falls, the band takes and breather and lets the harmonies run free. EP closer The Ghost in Your Skin wraps things up with an electric kiss of washed-out synths and bristling guitars.

Fiction will be availble on CD and digitally December 2nd, 2008.