Gig: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Depreciation Guild / Don Mills)

Lee's Palace. Thursday, February 12, 2009.

A "sad" start to the evening. I hadn't quite killed enough time before getting down to Bloor St., so I ducked into Sonic Boom. Given the stacks of as yet unfiled CD's on my floor, I'm aware how little I need to buy any more right now.¹ So, of course, I immediately come across stuff. They had used copies of the two just-out Volcano Suns re-issues which I was intending to price next time I was at Soundscapes. And a Bush Tetras comp, which I'd been looking for for a bit. But the real find was the first Zumpano alb, which I've been looking for at used places for years. Result!

Anyways, into the show, arriving early, staking out a spot to stand where I could cache bag + jacket. Unusually, it's been six weeks since I've been to a show, and I looked around the murky depths, thinking "have I missed anything?" Oh well, after the January doldrums, things'll now be picking up again.

The first act were some young locals stuck on the bill named Don Mills. Not so good. Musically, they managed to get by okay, in a sort of "we've listened to The National" kind of way, but the frontman was atrocious - all off-key, second-hand Springsteen-isms accompanied by slightly tragic shoulder-twistin' dance moves. Really uninteresting, though they did bring out some rowdy friends to cheer for them.² The best thing going for it was the fact that one of the guitarists' parents were standing beside me, and the dad kept slagging off the singer as well. One of the guitarists went by, and the dad stopped him to congratulate them, but also said, "you need to get that guy an anchor."³

Main tour support was a NY trio called Depreciation Guild. Two scrawny guys who looked like they were sent from central casting as "New York Indie Rockers" plus the drummer from THOBPaH on guit. They did effects-heavy shoegazey guitar rock, with their hook being they also had squiggly rhythmic noises provided by an old Nintendo. The sound was lousy at first (and, overall, it was an off night for everyone in the sonic department) as everything was squished together into a tiny little range. Once the mix improved, it was reasonably enjoyable for the middle third of the set. Not great, but okay.

Then our headliners, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who looked exactly like their music sounds - slightly nerdy/slightly cuddly, who were happy to be there and visibly impressed by the turnout and affection from the crowd. (and, yeah, somebody did a good job getting the word out, as the show was upsized from Neutral to Lee's, and the place was pleasantly full.) They did a short set, maybe 40 minutes, and it was generally solid. Some of the same lousy mix issues, I think, although given the band's sort of muddled sonic aesthetic, it's hard to say entirely. But they got their songs across well. I was glad I went.

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¹ Although, that being said, there's a couple things coming out soon that I am eager to get my hands on -- that Red Hot comp, and the new Robyn Hitchcock alb.

² Typical of them was this one fellow in a knitted homemade sweater whose design seemed to be based on the Old Spice sailboat logo.

³ I fully expected him to conclude the thought by saying "Knowing a little Conversational French, I think I know something about the music industry."