Gig: Wavelength 516

Wavelength 516 (feat. Eons / Hybrid Moments / The Deeep)

918 Bathurst. Sunday, March 13, 2011.

A Sunday night Wavelength is nothing new, but there was a sense of novelty in the show's location, the recently-opened arts space at 918 Bathurst Street. Built as a church and more recently a Buddhist temple, I'd walked past the spot's modest streetfront façade many times paying it no mind — and was thus quite surprised at the grandeur of the main hall. The wooden slats of the high-arched roof meeting a line of windows along the walls gave the impression that this should be at some rustic location by a lake. The room had a woodsy and warm comforting vibe, and my first thought was that I wanted all subsequent shows of any variety to be held here.

Plus, this was a seated show, something worth savouring for a Wavelength. And catering to the unseatable, there was a large open space to stand and mingle behind the chairs. The stage was decorated with loosely-woven cables of fabric in front of the large monolith-like structure at the back wall. The church-y atmosphere seemed to mellow out everyone in attendance, including host Doc Pickles, who was soon grooving on a lone tealight at the front of the stage as he started things going. All told, it was a pitch-perfect atmosphere for the debut performance from the "spectral folk" of Eons.

This trio maps out a newly-discovered fjord on the Bruce Peninsula, feauring three of that band's members, but most centrally Matt Cully, who developed this as an outlet for his songs while BP remained on hiatus due to Neil Haverty's medical leave. There was an element of sadness underneath things that a friend's misfortune was the circumstance that brought this about, and that might be one element accounting for the mournful loneliness that animated the band's laments.

Cully's vox and guitar were supplemented by instrumental shading (on guit, lap steel and keyb) from Andrew Barker as well as Misha Bower's harmonies. The latter was an essential factor here, not just embellishing Cully's voice (which is certainly proficient, but left unadorned might not be enough to carry a full set) but also in acting as sparkplug yin to Cully's more low-key yang, adding her usual engaging presence on stage.

The first song established the mood and fit everything just right into the churchy space before it segued into a cover of Michael Hurley's "Werewolf". There were five originals besides that — the best of the bunch was probably "Arctic Radio", described by Cully as being "about what songs sound like when there's no one there to listen to them", again invoking that sense of spare loneliness that suffused the set.

But still, this was more a celebration than a gloom-fest. There were lots of friends from the BP circle around — not just musicians, but also artists like Jeff Garcia, who had created a fab silkscreened poster for the show. And as the set closed with "Chair on Fire", probably the most uptempo of the lot, the moment felt about exactly right.

Listen to a track from this set here.

Filling up the space with a decidedly different sound was Hybrid Moments, the rawk/improv duopoly of Matt Nish-Lapidus and Wavelength founder Jonny Dovercourt (both on guitars). Showing some continuity with their past sets — which tend to include some off-the-cuff structured improvisations — the pair opened with the more song-like "The Pugilist", which works off a central riff, tossed back and forth between the two guitars.

Things were more experimental after that, like the follow-up that built up to a shred-y dialogue before imploding into a metaloid grind. The set's second improvisation found Nish-Lapidus treating his guitar with drumsticks, one jammed under the strings and another used for percussion while Dovercourt created a churning white noise underneath. That slowly morphed into a cover of their band's titular song, The Misfits' "Hybrid Moments", with vox from Dovercourt, who was rocking a Tardis pendant on a chain around his neck.

Just as the music surfs the line between songs and improvisations, it also exists on both sides of the "environmental" barrier: there was something here for the people who wanted to sit down and pay attention, but it also filled the space nicely for the larger cohort who were standing around at the back of the room, treating this as aural wallpaper decorating their social interactions.¹

Listen to an excerpt from this set here.

"We really advocate body movement... mind movement.... move however you'd like to." This was the opening foray from Isla Craig, T.O.'s 2011 face of positivity. As The Deeep² got started, her own movement was limited, as she crouched on the floor above her loop pedal, building up layers of wordless vocals like pillars of clouds. Victoria Cheong was also down-low to the stage, twisting knobs while Wolfgang Nessel was a bit more mobile, wandering around with his bass.

There were three heads nodding as the music slowly built up, with the Deeep trademarks of looped skankin' riddims underneath Craig's vocals creating a slithering, watery vibe. Appropriate for a band celebrating the release of a 12" single, all the jams here felt like extended versions, with songs and sounds flowing back and forth.

During "Mudd", once the stew was simmering, Craig took her own advice, jumping down off the stage and walking up the central aisle to check on the sound from the floor. The mix in the room was, perhaps, a little too clear for the band's music, given its affinity for low-end glurp. Still, as the set progressed, it became more groove-friendly — though in a sort of molasses-y way — and Matt Cully led the charge to fill in the zone in front of the stage with dancers, Nessel quickly jumping down to join them.

With further ebb and surge, there was a break for the quieter reverse-warped mindscape of "Dreams". Ultimately, the set featured pretty much all of the band's repertoire, ending with a big dance jam leading into "Slow Coaster". A fitting celebration of the band's forward-looking vision.³

Listen to a track from this set here.

And as the show ended, the venue was nicely located for me to amble over to Spadina to go in the Kendal Avenue subway entrance, and nod hello to local hero Joyce Wieland's caribou before stepping on my train home. What more could you ask for?

---

Wave-heads have a lot to look forward to in the next couple months. WL 532 goes tomorrow night (Saturday, January 7, 2012) at The Garrison, sporting a rocking lineup with Del Bel, The Hollow Earth, Persian Rugs and RLMDL. A quiter, sit-down show, featuring Thieves, Giant Hand and Holiday Rambler, will be on hand at Placebo Space (one of the city's comfiest venues!) on Friday, January 27, 2012. All of that is leadup to one of the most wonderful times of the year, as Wavelength's annual festival is set once again for the Family Day Weekend (February 16 to 19). And if that weren't enough, longtime Wavelength MC Doc Pickles is reclaiming Sunday nights with a new series called Crosswires that launches on February 26th, the weekend after the festival.

¹ No word on anything coming up from the Hybrid Moments camp, but I will note that This Mess, one of Matt Nish-Lapidus's other projects (who really nailed it at their debut show) will be playing the Silver Dollar on Thursday, January 26, 2012 on a bill alongside Cartoons and Hussy.

² The extra "e" was for "extra long set", the band playing for over fifty minutes, including several new/unreleased songs.

³ Such deeep waters can not stay still. These days, you can still find Isla Craig being Isla Craig, as well as working in a whole armload of other bands. VG and WG, meanwhile, have been crafting some experiments as HVYWTR, with some early results emerging a couple months ago — word on the street is that some tapes and live shows are on the horizon.