Gig: Land of Talk

Land of Talk (Suuns)

Lee's Palace. Thursday, September 16, 2010.

Another one of of those nights where I was out to see if a band whose records hadn't done much for me could win me over live. Though from general chatter it seemed like I was one of the few who wasn't on board with Land of Talk, I was still surprised this was a sold out gig — as usual, I had no idea how relatively popular the headliners were. There was even a fairly robust crowd on hand for opener Suuns, a Montréal quartet with some buzz.¹

The music lead off with a rumble of guitar and a couple analogue-y synth lines in an unrushed intro before the beat came in — and then another minute of build before the song got to the vocals. This wasn't a band in a rush to get to the chorus — actually, I'm not if the song even had one. The next tune eased back on the sonic velocity, and was filled with whispery vocals — more atmospheric than something you'd find yourself humming along to. My first impression was that this was a band aiming for a one chord, unsexy version of Franz Ferdinand.

Having gone in without doing any research, I felt there was something familiar about them, but it was only after the show that I realized had, in fact, seen them before — more than a year back when they were called Zeroes. I don't recall so much about that set, but my notes show that I managed to get basically the same impression twice — that this was a sound that I found interesting without being captivated by. When they brought out a guest sax player for a song, that added something interesting, and from there, music took a Clinic-al edge. But the band was bringing some different flavours, ranging from rattling bursts of freneticism to minimal slowburners. In the latter camp was one song whose only lyrics were the repeated digits "two-one-two". That and the final song brought to mind Snakedrill-era Wire, who I think we could count as a clear forerunner of what the band is working on. Despite all of that being kinda in my sweet spot, and although music like this can sometimes really hypnotize me, I found the set merely likeable. I will keep an eye on further developments, though.

Listen to a song from this set here.

Meanwhile, as the floor got to be pretty packed while things were getting set up for Land of Talk, it looked like they would be getting an assist from Suuns, who left their keybs and sundry other gear on stage while a small second drumkit was being set up in the back corner. In fact, Suuns — who amusingly re-emerged dressed up in shirts and ties that they'd not worn for their own set — would be fully integrated as a central element in the reproduction of the songs from the just-released Cloak and Cipher. As the set lead off with the title track, it was a larger-than-expected seven-member combo on stage.

I suppose that it shouldn't be too much of a surprise as the band has always featured a revolving cast around singer/guitarist Liz Powell — although she normally works with the more compact trio format. For the first half-hour here, players would come and go, meaning each song could be served with as much embellishment as required, whether extra backing vocals or percussion.

For a band that has some exceedingly dedicated fans, I've never been fully won over by Land of Talk's recorded material. It uniformly features some fully engaging moments, but never seems to cohere into songs that really grab me. And I was having more or less that same reaction at this show — some stuff, like "Some Are Lakes" (the title track to their 2008 full-length) registered, as did the downcast "Goaltime Exposure" from the new one. But overall I wasn't pulled into it.

I actually got a bit more of a charge when, mid-set, the band stripped down to their original trio format to look back to some older material like "Magnetic Hill" from debut Applause Cheer Boo Hiss. It was amusing to then see the rest of the extra hands re-materialize², sort of like the punchline to a joke about Canadian indie-rock "collectives" — they're a trio, but look away for a second and suddenly there's seven of 'em. The lashing "Yuppie Flu" that the trio had delivered was then contrasted with stuff like the textured "Color Me Badd".

Powell was effusively thankful to have a supportive and "really safe crowd" for the expanded group's first show. Around me, there was a pretty positive reaction from both "I know all the words" devotees and drunken "I heard they were cool" casuals that were rubbing shoulders in the crowd. They all joined in for a clapalong to the extended intro of "Sixteen Asterisk" and clearly wanted the band to keep playing past closer "The Hate I Won't Commit".

That extended a seventy minute main set as the band returned for what looked to be planned as a one-song-and-out encore with "It's Okay", which had a few people singing along in that way where you get the idea that this song really matters to them. That led to prolonged applause before the band came back on stage. If the previous song had been the rote, typical encore, the return felt like the real thing, with Powell acknowledging that crowd wasn't going to let it go at that.

Going back to the trio, the band had another chance to dig back to some of the older material that they couldn't squeeze in to the main set, like the winning "Summer Special". Playing songs out of the current rotation and not relying on recent rehearsal, the second encore was probably the the most vital part of the whole night, where even a few mistakes didn't subtract from the spontaneous energy of it all.

But still, I left feeling more or less like I did when I came in. I can tell this band is good, but whatever that spark is — that one that gives you that vivid sense of connection to a certain singer or their songs — I'm just not getting it here.

A couple selections from this set — you can compare a trio song to one with the expanded lineup here.

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¹ Those interested in the musical overlaps of the Montreal scene would be intrigued to know that keyboardist/bassist Max Henry used to split time with this band and Young Galaxy, though he has now departed from the YG fold to focus full time on Suuns. The band's forthcoming full-length was also produced with Montréal mainstay Jace Lacek of The Besnard Lakes, a sign that, if nothing else, it will be a well-recorded artifact.

² Actually, the start and end of the trio segment was accompanied by some extended tuning breaks. They echoed the rather anticlimactic way that the band took to the stage originally, leading off with a couple minutes of audience-ignoring tuning. I've heard that this is actually less of a problem now than it used to be for Powell, who jokingly solicited the audience for a volunteer guitar tech to join them on tour at one point.