PS I Love You (Matters / Motëm)
The Garrison. Thursday, April 7, 2011.
Another show that I headed out to on a last-minute decision. I surely dig the headliner, but it hadn't been that long since I'd saw 'em. But the addition of Matters to the bill made this a must-see. Figuring I wouldn't be the only one thinking that way, I was on hand fairly early on to make sure I got in.
Once I was in, that made for more time, I suppose, to appreciate the fact that the night had been "branded" by some car company. [Deleted: several angry rambling sentences.] If a car company offers you free swag, don't take it! It's soiled and will cause you spiritual damage. [Deleted: further angry ranting about automobile companies.]
Anyway, there was a nicely robust crowd on hand as a figure took the stage and lit the candles on his candelabra, telling the crowd they are about to witness "the Toronto debut of the Motëm ceremony". Hailing from Hamilton, the mysterious Motëm1 was wearing a toque and plaid and controlled his squiggy electronic music from behind a table full of gear. His performance encompassed a sort of mime/vogue dance style to his beatz, occasionally twisting a knob to make it extra-squelchy and tossing in a slogan here and there ("you better work!", "Let's Get it On").
Just like on the mixtapes he releases, the music segued from one song to the next. But the goal seemed to be more about creating an experience than just playing the music — the whole thing was a mashup of dance music, hip-hop's b-boy stances and performance art. It was kinda goofy/amusing for about ten minutes, but increasingly less so as it went along. Ultimately, this just isn't something that I "get". But no less than John O'Regan — Diamond Rings himself — was front and centre, having a great time, and I know that the cultural sophisticates over at Hype Lighter love this guy to bits, so note well that I'm probably out to lunch on this one.2
The transformation of The D'Urbervilles into Matters was meant to mark a break with the past, but there's far too much of a continuum with what they had become to really see it that way. Or, to put that another way, the biggest changes away from the sound that the band had explored on their first album We Are the Hunters had already been evident for quite some time before the name change. And similarly, this rebooting was obviously in the works for quite a while — back at least to the band's 2010 NXNE appearance, when there were whispers that that could be the band's last show, and they sold off all their old merch. After that came radio silence from the band as the members' other projects kept them busy, but the announcement of their transition to Matters — along with the release of a 7"3 — did manage to get a nice burst of media attention.
Evolution is the sort of thing you might not notice if you're not paying attention, so the attention-grabbing one-two punch of "Cito G/Boys 2 Men", with the tension-release craftsmanship and skittery structure deployed at a bolder level than Hunters-era D'Urbs would probably used might well have taken some by surprise — but those are songs that had been in the band's setlist for a little while now.
The newer stuff matches a sleek synth punch with guitar menace and a bolder sense of swagger. That latter quality would mostly be emanating from frontman John O'Regan, whose on-stage confidence and presence have expanded in tandem with the explosion of his Diamond Rings project. And even though for this show he was makeup-free and rocking the "classic John O." look — complete with black-on-black Jays cap4 — he brought a similar sense of all-that attitude.
That would give the performance plenty of verve and a sense of energy, even if it was, in fact, a similar set to the final time I'd seen The D'Urbs, featuring the songs presumably bound for the band's second album. Including their brooding/hi-rev cover of Timber Timber's "Magic Arrow", the nine-song set went forty minutes with no looks back to the first album.
When we'll get to hear these songs again is unknown. Word on the street is that concurrent with this burst of shows the band finished recording that second album, but since then, there's been no official Matters activity. Given everyone's other life and musical commitments5, it looks like this is most definitely on the backburner. It's not impossible that the advancement of time and the success of other projects might leave the recordings orphaned as a "lost album" that we'll eventually wonder about in hushed terms — and even as these same people are still amongst us, their collective presence (especially as a powerful live unit) will be missed.
Listen to a song from this set here.
An admiration for Matters was also brought into the headlining set by Kingston's PS I Love You, as singer/guitarist Paul Saulnier was sporting one of their new stickers on his headband — "I feel weird taking the stage after them," he commented.
But as the duo launched into "Meet Me at the Muster Station" and a pretty speedy "Breadends" they were showing they'd earned their headliner chops. Tightly organized, most of the set came in two-song bursts, and even then with only the quickest of pauses between — there was no tentativeness with this well-toured material. "Scattered" drifted a bit, but Benjamin Nelson's snappy drumming on "Get Over" grabbed me back.
When you see a band a few times, it's always interesting to hear the little differences — this time out, there was a whole tonne less vocals in the mix than the last time I saw 'em on the same stage. But there was accordingly more solo-tastic guitar — "Butterflies & Boners" melted faces nicely. Saulnier had also upgraded his foot-actuated bass keyboard to a new Moog model, and I could certainly feel that in my chest throughout the set.
There was also some new material such as "Sentimental Dishes", which mostly followed the same trajectory plotted by Saulnier's past work.6 And given the extra microphone over at the edge of the stage, it was no surprise to see John O'Regan — who had appeared on the single version of the song in his Diamond Rings alter ego — come out to add some vocals for the encore's "Leftovers".
Listen to a song from this set here.
1 Note the umlaut and the accent are on the second syllable of his name.
2 Motëm will be sharing the Garrison stage with PS I Love You once again as part of the grand finale of the Wavelength TWELVE festival on Sunday, February 19, 2012.
3 The release of the single for "Get In Or Get Out" was accompanied by a stylish video directed by Colin Medley and Jared Raab.
4 The Blue Jays' own rebranding should give an impetus for a whole new range of sartorial choices for O'Regan — if they haven't already, they should really be hiring Diamond Rings as a merchandise spokesmodel.
5 These guys can be seen in Forest City Lovers, Diamond Rings and House League. The latter two both have just wrapped up new recordings, though no word yet on when they'll surface for the listening public.
6 PS I Love You have just wrapped up their second album, so hopefully there'll be some more new material previewed when they play the above-mentioned Wavelength Festival show. For the love of Pete, bring your earplugs!
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