Recording: Esther Grey

Artist: Esther Grey

Song: The Body of a Healer

Recorded at The Great Hall ("Long Winter – Year 2 Volume 1"), November 8, 2013.

Esther Grey - The Body of a Healer

Full review to follow. The first season of Long Winter shows developed their sensibility as they went along, but a second go-round gives a chance to plug into — and expand upon — an existing template. This time 'round, The Great Hall was even more stuffed to the gills. The main hall and conversation room stages were running in tight tandem, meaning you could (and I did!) basically watch music continuously all night long. But on top of that, there was a third stage in the restaurant, plus a full separate slate (including a live talk show) in the basement BLK BOX, to say nothing of the art interventions scattered throughout the space.

As always, it was a fairly wide-ranging night. An exciting ALL CAPS discovery, I'd been meaning to catch this Guelph combo again for more than a year. Since I saw them then, they've doubled in size, adding sax and bass, and that added layers of sophistication to their jazzy pop. But they were still having a good time on stage, and though they have careful arrangements I dig the fact that they don't mind of things fall apart a little bit from time to time in proper rock'n'roll fashion. Guitarist Steph Yates brings complex shadings to her vocals, and — as a new 7" attests — that can be applied to the songwriting as well.