Artist: Evening Hymns
Song: House of Mirrors
Recorded at The Horseshoe Tavern, August 21, 2013.
Evening Hymns - House of MirrorsFull review to follow. Unlike last time I caught him, Jonas Bonnetta had longtime confederates Sylvie Smith and Jon Hynes in tow, but the setlist was filled with a lot of new songs for the old faces to play. The accent here was on the rockin' side of things, including on this presumably-future single with some great backing vocals.
Artist: Evening Hymns
Songs: You And Jake + Rescue Teams
Recorded at The Drake Underground, November 14, 2013.
Full review to follow. Out on a short road swing before hunkering down for the winter, Jonas Bonnetta played solo for the show's first half and in a new trio configuration for the rest. There were a few new songs in the setlist, giving some hints of what Spectral Dusk follow-up might bring us — they included a semi-joking reference to back-to-the-land draft-dodger tunes and also a big rock number called "Evil Forces".
Artist: Evening Hymns
Song: Tumbleweeds
Recorded at The Great Hall, September 7, 2013.
Evening Hymns - TumbleweedsFull review to follow. In the middle of a bittersweet farewell show, a series of friends came out and paid tribute by covering a favourite song from Ohbijou's catalogue. Jonas Bonnetta brought only a boombox for musical support, but that (and Sylvie Smith's voice) was enough to animate these words.
Artist: Evening Hymns
Song: Cabin in the Burn
Recorded at The Great Hall ("Wavelength THIRTEEN – Night 3"), February 16, 2013.
Evening Hymns - Cabin in the BurnMy quick notes for this set can be found here.
THIRTEEN: The Wavelength 13th Anniversary Festival (Part II)
While it's all fresh in my mind, a few notes from this year's WL Fest. Notes from the first two nights of the festival can be found here. Longer, more comprehensive reviews will follow down the road a piece.
With four night of fairly diverse sounds on offer, it's good that Wavelength offers some integrating factors to pull the whole thing together. First and foremost of those is Doc Pickles, the series' long-running MC, who hosted all four nights. Although he would modestly claim, in his introductions, to be "setting the bar low" for the bands to follow him, there's a craft and a method to his discourse. Daring to fling associational logic into a cookie-cutter world, there's always a wry humour at play — and, more importantly, a sense of a shared existential awkwardness to be confronted and overcome. Step forward: you are part of this.
Another fundamental WL experience tying things together are the swirling General Chaos visuals, provided by Steve Lindsey. Hand-crafted and carefully selected to enhance the mood of each band, there's a warm analog feeling to the visuals — and if you watch Lindsey's customized projectors spin (and occasionally fail) you can get a sense of what an elaborate juggling act it is. When you come in and see that living painting twisting behind the stage, you know where you are.
Night 3 — Saturday, February 16, 2013
The Great Hall — feat. Bernice/ Doom Squad / Sarah Neufeld / Evening Hymns/ Do Make Say Think)
The Venue: Although it's increasingly becoming a go-to spot for midsize shows, The Great Hall is somewhat divisive among concert-goers. The large, open ceiling imparts a sense of space that you don't get at similarly-sized venues, but it does also affect the sonics. Which is to say, there's probably more variability here than in most venues — move a few steps away from a spot where everything sounds great and you can suddenly be in a murky dead zone. That said, the Great Hall is unfairly maligned in a few quarters — compared to a couple years ago, there's been a fair amount of effort put in to making bands sound good. It also has a rep for somewhat erratic rules — drink prices change from night to night (and from one bar to another!) and sometimes you're allowed to go lounge on the balcony and sometimes not — and when the place gets really packed, the floor can be uncomfortably jammed. Also: the bathrooms are inadequate (and frequently rather dodgy by night's end), one feature that really needs to be updated in this heritage landmark.
Wavelength's night at the Great Hall corresponded with a sudden (and somewhat surprising) snowfall, making surface travel almost impossible. (I ended up walking down from Ossington Station.) That meant the room was a little slow to fill, and for the first part of the evening, there were the powerfully-appealing smells from the pop-up dumpling stand wafting through the room. Balloon creatures — making an encore appearance from last summer's ALL CAPS show — bobbed and floated overhead.
The show: I was sad to have missed the start of Bernice — for me, this was one of the more-anticipated sets at the festival. A vehicle for Robin Dann's songwriting talents, shows were fairly thin on the ground as Dann decamped to England shortly after the 2011 release of what was that. It's an enchanting album, but to a neutral observer the most vivid element might be Thom Gill's smooth production — making it tempting to conclude that he's the man behind the curtain.
Now back on this side of the Atlantic, seeing Dann on stage put her personality front and centre and firmly established that she's the animating force here. Just like her songs, Dann presented a somewhat shy but playful presence — as well as a wonderful voice. She was supported in that department by Felicity Williams, local MVP trophy winner in the backing vocals category, and generally a guarantee that the band on stage is one you should pay attention to.1 They were flanked by Colin Fisher (on mellow wah-wah guitar) and Thom Gill (on keybs and electronics). Gill was actually running a bit of interference here, adding some textured blips and gurgles that lifted the sound from retro softrock to something more subtly contemporary.
But it was the songs and voices that made this a winner. A lot of the set was new material, and it sounded like good stuff. That bodes well for the future of this project, and I'm definitely still eager to hear more from this unit.
Listen to a song from this set here.
When I caught Doom Squad in a church a few months ago, it felt like a somewhat disjunctive spot for the band, given their pagan vibes. The band's music comes with a sense of ritual — the very old rituals of sex and death, where you can enjoy the dancing if you don't peek too closely at what's happening on the altar. It didn't feel like they were totally connecting with the crowd here, although I get the impression that anything less than deep in a forest on a moonlit night is a second-best way to see the band. Their own set of joy-dirges was supplemented by a reinvention of The Doors' "Riders on The Storm" that fit right into their aesthetic while revealing new affinities. It's quite possible that this is the band at the festival that will become most bragged about in a I-saw-them-when sort of way by the very people who were mostly busy ignoring them.
Listen to a song from this set here.
That semi-interested crowd would be a bit of a factor throughout the night. Any time a WL show is headlined by a band with its own non-overlapping fanbase, there's going to be a contingent who come out to treat it as a show by "their" band, with a bunch of other bands they have to suffer through. However, this is as much a feature as a bug on nights like this. Although Wavelength is a celebration of an established community, it's also a proselytizing front to ameliorate people's taste. Which is to say: when a horde of Rock Guys come to see their band, some small number are going to be illuminated about some kind of music they hadn't really cared about before — and they're maybe the most important people at the show.
The downside is a lot of them are going to be less-than-rapt for the music they know nothing about — a slightly awkward context for a solo violin set. That Sarah Neufeld held the crowd as much as she did is a testament to her on-stage presence. Her name value might help as well — "member of Arcade Fire" is a good way to get people to pay attention.2 I'd not checked out her solo material, but I'd heard some mention of loop-based violin composition, so I had shades of, say, Final Fantasy in my mind going in. The first part of the set, however, turned out to be straight-up violin, with no technological props. With Neufeld stomping along on stage, there was a lot of energy in the songs, the music ranging from Celtic-y reels to hints of Bach-style elegance.
The most intriguing material, though, came at the close, when she was joined by unannounced special guests Colin Stetson (on bass sax) and The Magic's Geordie Gordon on keybs. Stetson's contribution here was reminiscent of his own solo work: basically a low droning soundfield to add gravity below Neufeld's ascendant figures. Gordon's synth basically fulfilled the same function — at times the two merged into one another — and that gave a thick fog as Neufeld also added some wordless vocalisations. This was definitely intriguing stuff.
Listen to a song from this set here.
Those same chatterers were mostly content to continue their conversations as Evening Hymns took the stage — problematic as at the start it was just Jonas Bonnetta and Sylvie Smith leading off with a hushed "Arrows". Behind them was a circular screen with an image that I took to be a full moon — though as the music began, there was slow movement on the screen and I realized it was a shot of trees. Jared Raab's projections would mostly stay in the forest, shifting along with the songs — and soon the duo on stage would expand into a full band.
Evening Hymns is always Bonnetta, usually Smith, and otherwise whichever friends are at hand. Here we had some members of The Wooden Sky as well as Shaun Brodie and Mika Posen. Bonnetta commented that they'd be "playing all the classics", and standing on the big stage with the arch rising over his head — and Gavin Gardiner tearing out guitar solos — this felt more like the Opera House in '09 than last summer's album release spectacular. By the end, as the group closed with "Mtn. Song", the visuals were rapidly spinning behind them.
That's all to say this was a retrospective moment for a band now at the cusp of transition and renewal. With Bonnetta publicly retiring some of his more emotionally weighty songs from last year's Spectral Dusk, there's going to be space in the setlist to fill. I'm actually hoping he follows through with hints of a step sideways into "ambient drone material" — that sort of stuff would be perfect at an intimate, sit-down Wavelength night.
Listen to a song from this set here.
Although it was getting late — it was now past one a.m. — there was still a full house waiting for Do Make Say Think. Coming back from a mini-hiatus, this band was also in the mood for a journey through their back catalogue. Just as when I had last seen 'em, the band were in their "original five" configuration, playing without the horns and strings and guests that expand their songs from widescreen to Imax. And though there were a few spots where I could hear the horn section in my head punching the songs into the stratosphere, this was still plenty big, even in this alignment.
With double drummers at the back and multi-tasking musicians up front, there was a lot going on. Ohad Benchetrit, Justin Small and Charles Spearin would each juggle guitars and bass with horns and keyboards, often with the latter at the beginnings of songs before cracking things up for the guitar-rockin' conclusions. Small (who, as always, was the main speaking voice of the band between songs) talked about the importance of the "rock'n'roll nap" before such a late set. He also apologized that none of the band's new material was ready to be played yet, but they made up for that with some deep cuts, including & Yet & Yet closer "Anything for Now" — which they had never done live before — and going all the way back to their debut for "If I Only…". Playing for nearly and hour and a half, I wasn't expecting a set nearly that long, but it was most welcome, even if it meant a late end to the night.
Listen to a song from this set here.
Night 4 — Sunday, February 17, 2013
The Garrison — feat. Cell Memory & Castle If / Legato Vipers / Henri Fabergé & the Adorables / The Magic / Cookie Duster / Dusted
The Venue: Back at the site of the final phase of Wavelength's weekly incarnation, The Garrison feels like home. All the more so, given how ever since its opening, it's been evolving and getting that "lived-in" vibe. Now as much a taco-totin' local hang-out as a place to see a show, the incremental changes to the room — the wall of seats, the new bar at the back — have re-shaped it into a more comfortable space.
The Show: With six bands on the bill, things got started only minutes after the doors opened, with Cell Memory & Castle If taking the stage as early-arrivers were showing up. Though remaining cloaked in mystery, I knew a bit about the band from when I saw them playing in December. Here, though, the duo that I had encountered there were rounded out by a drummer, and that definitely gave more propulsion to the music. Although that shouldn't be mistaken for an undue concern with forward drive — the mode here was sheer motorik drone, and the songs built tension from holding still as much as possible while racing along nowhere Faust. Insistent synth patterns burbled underneath floating clouds of guitar (there was some e-bow action here) — this is the sort of stuff I dig a lot. Jess Forrest's vocals were buried underneath it all, half-comprehensible phrases rendered more mysterious for being delivered in German. That was a propos for this highly expressionist music — I almost expected to see Mabuse lurking back in the shadows somewhere.
In twenty minutes, the band only tackled two long songs. I would have gladly heard more, as this was maybe my favourite set of the festival. Although the band doesn't seem to be eager to share too information about themselves, they are present online, so keep an eye out for future shows.
Listen to a song from this set here.
There was a full one-eighty after that, with the night switching over to full-on party mode. You might not know the members of Legato Vipers by name, but this is a crew of some of the best players in the Guelph/Toronto axis. You might recognize 'em if you've seen, say, Del Bel, Bry Webb, Skeletones Four or Biblical lately. Or, in this case, you might not have noticed them at all, as for this set they were accompanied by The Harlettes, who performed live burlesque routines to the band's surf-rock originals. Using the power of a smile (as well as leaving something to the imagination) the performers each brought their winning personalities (and, um, spinning pasty tassels) for an empowered, sexy spin on the old-fashioned sleaze. This was enormously fun. Oh, right: there was music, too. It was pretty good.
Listen to a song from this set here.
No band could ever contain Henry Fletcher (or, shall we say, his alter ego Henri Fabergé). Even when The Adorables were in full force, there was never really a sense that was going to proceed in the usual manner. There was an album, but after the collective burst that that emerged from dissipated, there were only murmurs. A lot of the players on that went to to renown in their own projects, while Henri Fabergé would emerge in multimedia spectacles dedicated to profiling the details of his fake autobiography.
And here he was, putting the band back together. For most of those assembled on stage, this looked like a gleeful opportunity to have a fun time — in particular, it looked like Laura Barrett and Maylee Todd were having their own private sock hop — but it was a more world-weary Fabergé that came out in his leiderhosen, Mardi Gras chain around his neck and trumpet and canteen near at hand. He sang his songs of unrequited love (and suggested onanistic solutions to same) as the group sing-along spectacle exploded behind him. Eventually, of course, he'd rip off his shirt and dive into the crowd as the band called out, "fuck you, Henri!" — this is just how these things go.
The crazy-quilt of contributors was not a purist representation of the 2006 Adorables line-up (if such a thing could exist anyway). Besides older hands like Dana Snell and Andy Scott I spotted Robin Hatch on keybs and The Wuar Wuars (who are often seen dancing at Maloo shows). The music was a similar hodgepodge, with songs from the Adorables album mixed with more recent pageant pieces. But the sum total was quite exhilarating and rather a success. Word is that there's a new transmedia spectacle in process, so keep an eye out.
Listen to a song from this set here.
That's exactly the sort of spontaneous party that one would expect to break out when The Magic play — but this time out, they couldn't quite match that level of anarchic glee. Although this is a band that can generate a get-your-dance-on spectacle when they want to (such as this summer's album release party that arrived as a full-on Midnight Special tribute) there are signs that the band may be taking tentative steps towards "maturing". There's certainly a deeper appreciation of songcraft from frontman Geordie Gordon, and hints that he wants to produce something a bit more resonant than disco-fied anthems. The band itself has also been in flux — co-vocalist Sylvie Smith, for one, though back in the fold for this show has been busy touring with Evening Hymns and away from the band for awhile. Hitting on both those themes, Andrew Collins (of Skeletones Four) was playing keybs, and injecting some darker tones.
That's not to say that the band is suddenly dour or anything — Geordie Gordon emerged in a cape, after all, over his western shirt. And the songs still have an ebullient spirit. So even if this wasn't the band at their ragged-gold-standard best, it was a fun time, and they remain a band I'd go see pretty much any time.3
Listen to a song from this set here.
The night's star power would come from Cookie Duster's headlining set. Though billed as their live debut, my understanding is that the new/old project from Brendan Canning did actually play a handful of gigs in its original incarnation, before his attention was sidetracked by the success of Broken Social Scene. Rebooting itself with last summer's When Flying Was Easy, they were a six-piece here, with supplemental star power in the form of Change of Heart's Rob Higgins on bass and Matt Murphy on guitar.
Perhaps befitting that old/new dynamic, the band did feel a little out-of-time, as if they were drawing from a set of influences completely out of step with anything else out there right now. There were some hints of early 90's funk rock in there — not, like, at Bootsauce levels or anything — though Big Audio Dynamite came to mind a bit. That was leavened with a spiky power-pop sensibility, and some of the songs wouldn't have sounded completely out-of-place on his Something for All of Us... solo-via-BSS effort. Cutting against that, the best curveballs came with Jeen O'Brien's vocal contributions.
Given that everyone at hand is an old pro, this went pretty smoothly for a first gig. My sensibility, mind you, lies a bit in the other direction — so I wouldn't mind at all if, once this has gelled as a live thing, the band set to scuffing up these songs a little bit more. In any case, one gets the impression that having these musicians bouncing ideas off each other could push this from feeling old/new into something new/new.
Listen to a song from this set here.
The night closed out with a set from "secret guests" Dusted, who had (in a bit of almost-perfect symmetry) played at the pre-festival in-store show a few nights before. Although the band is based on a solid idea — gussying up some of Brian Borcherdt's solo songs into something more sonically adventurous than the regular singer-songwriter fare — I must confess that I didn't particularly "get" the project the first time I saw it live. Backed by Leon Taheny on drums and keybs, Borcherdt's laments (and guitar tone) are swathed in layers of reverb — and if that's pushed too far it can consign everything to pool of sonic mush.
Subsequent samplings — including this set — have kept the ratios correct, and now I see why a lot of folks got excited last year for their Total Dust album. With a fragile smile (but looking like he could be knocked over with a feather), Borcherdt evinces the same weary vulnerability that he essays in his songs, while Taheny adds more subtle textures than could be expected from someone playing two instruments at once. Even after ducking into the backstage area to find a replacement guitar, this was a fine sounding set, its echoing weariness a proper sort of nightcap for the festival.
Listen to a song from this set here.
Overall, a really great festival — you should start planning your next Family Day around FOURTEEN. And Wavelength isn't just a once-a-year thing — besides the upcoming ALL CAPS excursion, the next few WL nights (March 21, March 29, April 16) are already listed.
1 Williams can be seen on stage with Hobson's Choice, THOMAS and Bahamas, and probably umpteen more bands.
2 Though for my money, it's far more interesting to think of her as a member of Bell Orchestre and, more recently, The Luyas.
3 I'll certainly be there when they'll be appearing beside Hooded Fang at The Bicycles' album release party, coming up on April 4, 2013 at Lula Lounge.
Sunday Playlist [Monday Edition] #38: Wavelength THIRTEEN Live Preview
Well folks, it's the best week of the year! Continuing their mandate to nurture the best bands in our city and beyond, it's time once again for the music festival so good that there was a long weekend created just to contain it. Once you've gotten all the details on the festival, read interviews and met the bands on the WL tumblr and listened to the offical mixtape, you might be asking yourself: "so what do these bands sound like live?" Well, here's a partial answer.
In-store All-Stars
All in-stores are FREE and ALL-AGES
Absolutely Free - Clothed Woman Sitting
Playing @ Sonic Boom, Wednesday, April 13.
Playing @ Sonic Boom, Wednesday, April 13.
Playing @ Soundscapes, Saturday, April 16.
Laura Barrett - The Humble Fawn
Playing @ Soundscapes, Saturday, April 16.
Playing @ Grasshopper Records, Sunday, April 17.
Thurs Feb. 14 @ The Shop under Parts & Labour
Lullabye Arkestra - We Fuck the Night
Ell V Gore - Scandals/Her Vicious
Fresh Snow - BMX Based Tactics
Fri Feb. 15 @ Black Box Theatre/The Great Hall Downstairs
Sat Feb. 16 @ The Great Hall
Do Make Say Think - End of Music
Evening Hymns - Asleep In The Pews
Doom Squad - Born from the Marriage of the Moon and a Crocodile + Eternal Return
Sunday Feb. 17 @ The Garrison
Castle If & Cell Memory - unknown
Legato Vipers - two unknown songs
Sunday Playlist is a semi-regular feature that brings back some of this blog's previously-posted original live recordings for an encore. You can always click the tags below to see what I originally wrote about the shows these songs came from.
Artist: Evening Hymns
Songs: Family Tree + Asleep In The Pews
Recorded in Stuart's basement (OOTS House Show #4), December 8, 2012.
Evening Hymns - Asleep In The Pews
Full review to follow. As he pays tribute to his late father, it feels like Jonas Bonnetta's letting go is almost done. Expressing the sadness and memory and love in the beautiful songs on Spectral Dusk has clearly been both a cathartic and exhausting process, and soon it will be time to head back to the woods and let some new songs, new feelings and new life emerge.
At the end of the tour, the four-piece winding things down felt a world away from the widescreen rock unit that helped put the album into the world back in August — the difference between summer brightness and early-winter grey skies. The final stop to this tour — and perhaps to some of these songs in a live setting — will be at the Music Gallery on December 20, 2012, which should be a special night in the beautiful church sanctuary.
Artist: Evening Hymns
Song: Moon River
Recorded at The Theatre Centre (SummerWorks Festival), August 17, 2012.
Evening Hymns - Moon RiverFull review to follow. Although it's seemed like a rather long wait for those of us in the crowd to finally get a chance to hear Spectral Dusk as a finished product, it's been a far longer — and more personal — journey for Jonas Bonnetta, so I can only imagine that it must have felt special to release it to the world to a room filled with friends and peers. Playing as a seven-piece, this was Evening Hymns at its most vivid, a feeling intensified by Sean Frey's realtime lofi projections flickering behind the band.
CBC was onsite to record the show for future broadcast, and you can expect some video from this set to surface soon — but hopefully this will serve as a placeholder for now.
1000 Songs: Jen Polk
I have now posted one thousand songs from my live recordings to this blog. My introductory thoughts on that landmark can be found here, but long story short: I asked some folks to pick some of their favourites to help me celebrate.
Today's list is from Jennifer Polk, formerly @historyjenTO, and now exploring her options in the grown-up world. She is available for life-coaching at reasonable rates.
Many congratulations on having posted 1,000 live show recordings, Joe!
Here are some highlights for me, a few of them from shows I was also at. (Memories! Regrets!) There's no rhyme or reason for what follows; I just like them and think they're worth hearing again.
Woodhands - Can't See Straight/Under Attack
Best live band! What better way to start things off then a live recording of my favourite band to see (and dance to). I love how their songs, so distinct on their studio albums, get turned into these massive dance party medleys/jam outs in the live setting. Unfortunately for me, Dan Werb and Paul Banwatt are busy guys and they haven't performed much lately. (I myself am not that busy, so thankfully there are Joe's recordings.)
Diamond Rings - You & MeMore electronica, this time care of John O'Regan AKA Diamond Rings. I first started hearing John's solo material done acoustically — just guitar and voice. And it was so lovely that it brought tears to my eyes on occasion. (I am mostly heartless, so this is saying something.) When Diamond Rings went electro, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it but I was excited about the possibilities. I think the result is definitely worth cheering. What a great talent.
Speaking of talent, next up is Evening Hymns, the project of Jonas Bonnetta with (on this night and now regularly) the beautiful Sylvie Smith. This is one of those bands that I have sometimes taken from granted — a band that is just good, that you know you can rely on — but every time I've seen Jonas (solo or accompanied) I've been so moved. I missed this performance, but it really must have been special. Also, cellphone users: whatever you do that makes this noise happen, stop it. You (almost) ruin everything.
Julie! Love her when she's quiet and spare; love her when she's rocking out. Here, it's mostly the former but there's a bit of the latter. Double love. Check out Joe's other recordings of Julie (including his most recent ones) for a very different sound that still sounds perfect.
Well, this is excellent. This style really suits her, and she sounds fantastic. That, plus the incredible energy Maylee brings to every performance... well, it must have made for a wonderful set.
Every New Year's Eve party should feature the Magic. Sadly, the band never released an album. I don't know the details, but certainly the band members were and are busy with other projects. These days you can see the Gordon brothers in Islands and Sylvie Smith in Evening Hymns.
I, probably like most people, never thought Nathan Lawr would embrace Afrobeat. But I like it! And that vibraphone — Paul Aucoin, I love you. And all those horns! This band, which brings together a number of excellent local (and not-so-local) players hasn't performed in Toronto that much, but if they ever do again, I'll be there.
Sloan - Everything You've Done Wrong
Here's more horns, but in a less-than-expected place: a Sloan concert! This set put a huge grin on my face that didn't leave it until after I'd gone to sleep hours later. Oh, and now it's back. Sloan! These guys really are good at this. What fun.
And, well, of course: more Woodhands! The first two and a half minutes of this recording (plus the last bit) is of an as-yet unreleased song that features Paul's simply stupendous drumming and an exciting, unexpected synth line... I'm busy dancing, thanks for reading and listening, kthxbai.
You can always click on the tags below to read more about the shows these songs came from. Have there been four or five songs posted here that made an impact on you? If you'd like to get in on the action and make a list, feel free to send me an email: mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com.
Sunday Playlist #19: City vs. Country
The Wooden Sky - The Wooden Sky
The Treasures - Natural Disasters
Sunday Playlist is a semi-regular feature that brings back some of this blog's previously-posted original live recordings for an encore. You can always click the tags below to see what I originally wrote about the shows these songs came from.
The ALL CAPS! Island Festival — Artscape Gibraltar Point
While it's all fresh in my mind, a few notes from this year's ALL CAPS! Festival. Longer, more comprehensive reviews will follow down the road a piece.
Now in its third year on the Island, the ALL CAPS Festival is truly coming into its own as a remarkable event. The past two years were completely enjoyable experiences in themselves, but with a boost from the folks at Whippersnapper Gallery, the art quotient was boosted up here and everything felt a little bigger in scale.
Saturday August 13, 2011
Day 1 — feat. Moon King / Jen Castle & Yuula Benivolski / Monogrenade / Evening Hymns / Julie Doiron / More or Les. Host: Laura Barrett
Also bigger than ever (thanks to some very nice publicity) was the demand — from what I heard, there was a large lineup waiting for the doors to open, snapping up the remaining tickets instantly. When I arrived about an hour later, there was a "SOLD OUT" sign on the door and sad people being turned away.
Knowing it was going to be a busy evening, I arrived with some extra time to wander around a bit. One of the cooler elements of the festival is the facility itself — set in the old island elementary school, Artscape Gibraltar Point is now an artists' retreat, and several were kind enough to open the studios to the visiting public. I ducked into a couple and had some nice conversations with the artists about the stuff they were working on. I dug Chris Gardiner's collage-y works and just adored Pat Jeffries' project of painting portraits of the Island's hundred-year-old black willow trees, closeups of the gnarled trunks showing each one's uniqueness and personality.
Right at six, things got started in the Fireplace Room, with Laura Barrett, the day's special guest host, telling the crowd the secret and arcane origin story of the Moon King. The latest project from Daniel Woodhead finds him and his stand-up drumkit joined by his one-time Spiral Beach bandmate Maddy Wilde on guitar. With some added parts from an ipod, the music was thumping, rollicking fun — catchy pop presented with a shambling DIY edge.
Listen to a track from this set here.
After that burst of energy, it was outside to the beach behind the school for something altogether more meditative. Billed as a collaboration between musician Jennifer Castle and visual artist Yuula Benivolski, this inverted the usual order for these sorts of things where the visual component is sort of a backdrop to the musician playing. Here, instead, Castle, though present, was involved with the use of pre-recorded music soundtracking the ritual unfolding on the lakeshore. Symbolically suggestive without being to overt in its motives, the piece involved two women covered (like priestesses — or sacrifices) in thin sheets walking into the water and, at a distance, flanking an effigy-woman in wire, arms upraised. With ritual precision, the effigy was set on fire as the waves washed over the figures in the lake. With Castle's haunting voice in the background, the scene was static, with only the ungoverned fire and water breaking the stillness. As the effigy burned itself out, the figures in the water moved back to the shore, slowly following the waves to cloak their movement.
The first real wildcard of the weekend came on returning to the fireplace room. Montréal's Monogrenade don't have much profile in the anglosphere yet, but there's no reason that the language barrier should be too much of an impediment for the quartet. Showing quite a musical range, the set started with slower, moodier stuff featuring keybs and cello instead of guitar. By set's end, though, they were showing off a dancier, more aggressive sound. If bands like Karkwa and Malajube can gain notice outside la Belle Province, there's no reason Monogrenade can't follow in their footsteps.
As the sunset grew closer, it was back out to the beach for a set by Evening Hymns. What was originally going to a special presentation with Jonas Bonnetta providing a live soundtrack to a new 3-D film he's working on didn't come together, but in this environment the band's "regular" music cast a spell nonetheless.
As the audience gathered on the beach, I spotted a bearded figure and a woman out swimming in the middle distance — and for a moment I was convinced that Bonnetta and bandmate Sylvie Smith were reenacting their video for "Dead Deer". But as the actual Bonnetta and Smith stepped out to tune their instruments, I turned and saw their doppelgangers swimming back to the shore. From there, it was all quietly amazing, with the first lines of "Spectral Dusk" ("You would sit by yourself / at the end of the day / watching spectral dusk / settle in on Ontario Lake") feeling so utterly right as the evening's pink tendrils reached across the horizon. The set included several of the new songs from the band's forthcoming second album, as well reaching back for a beautiful version of "Cedars". The set ended with Bonnetta's solo version of "Mountain Song", slowly building loops of keyboards and vocals, finally getting loud enough to drown out the sound of the waves hitting the shore.
On the way back from the beach, the full moon was hovering over the lake to the east, its reflection creating a golden path across the waves. For just a second, it felt like I could have climbed on and walked down it to some more ethereal place.
Listen to a song from this set here.
Back inside (and feeling more grounded), as Julie Doiron finished setting up, the thing that fascinated me most about her set was considering how she would be able to contain herself to the strict half-hour time limit. Doiron's shows are usually free-flowing affairs, with no setlist so much as a series of songs flowing in accordance with Doiron's mood, and as many audience requests as she can cram in. Doiron also has a particularly charming way of getting caught up in her avenues of banter, and even though she resolved at the outset to talk as little as possible, she still managed to get sidetracked chatting about the features of her new iphone.
But there was still a cavalcade of songs, including a couple brand new ones — one was described as having been written immediately after SappyFest, just a few weekends ago. Plus a few interesting requests — I'm not sure when I last heard her play "Sweeter", for example. And never afraid to discover she no longer remembers all the chords and words in the middle of a song, there was also a somewhat haphazard run through The Dinner is Ruined's "Sleep Little Willie" as a nod to Dale Morningstar, whose studio is right next door. The room was packed tight for this and extraordinarily hot and sweaty, but I would have happily had this go for twice as long.
Closing out the night was brunch-loving rapper More or Les. Performing with two DJ/beat controllers on a table behind him, Leslie Seaforth brought a playful edge to his wordplay. Focusing on the daily ups and downs in life might seem old hat in the shadow of Shad, but do recall that Seaforth has been developing his style for more than a decade. It showed in his poise on stage as he ran through a rapid succession of cuts. With some people opting to grab an early ferry back to the mainland, there was enough space for the crowd to move around a bit. A fun way to end the day.
Sunday August 14, 2011
Day 2 — feat. Muskox / Dog Bus / Steamboat / The Wooden Sky / DD/MM/YYYY / Rich Aucoin. Host: Doc Pickles
Sunday's weather report brought with it the threat of thundershowers, though in the cloudy afternoon, that mostly meant it felt a little cooler. That overcast sky meant that the island felt a little less over-run, and the vibe at Gibraltar Point was a little more relaxed overall. Made sense, then, to ease into the day with the mellow-ish sounds of Muskox.
For a band I like a lot, it's just been bad luck that I haven't made it out to see 'em since they released their last album in October '09. Now, with a new album in the wings — look for Invocation/Transformations on September 6 — there was all the more reason for a revisiting. Sporting a slimmed-down five-member lineup, there was also a subtly different element to their sound — less the "progressive chamber jazz" that I identified when I saw 'em last and not even the old avant-bluegrass tag that I think I've also used before. Which is all to say, of course, that genre distinctions aren't entirely helpful in pinning down Mike Smith's compositions. With no harmonium, horns or extra percussion, this was a more agile beast than in the past, and the music a little more sleek. Perhaps best to just say that Muskox are taking their prog-Americana sound into a never-quite-happened version of the past's future, with flying cars leaving coloured trails across a post-industrial sky — but also with banjos. For some reason, they never used to think the future would include banjos.
Listen to a track from this set here.
Sunday's wildcard also represented the strong commitment that ALL CAPS has to its all-ages roots, stressing the importance of having an environment conducive to under-18's not only in the audience but also on stage. Waterloo's Dog Bus brought the day's youngest musicians, with rapper Jules Mkools (age 19) supported by his brother Jakey MkSpanky (age 13). For most of their set, the pair were backed by two-thirds of K-W pop-punk unit Courage My Love. Taking the stage in matching tracksuits, the pair of MC's proceeded to throw down on topics like space ships, ice cream and robots.
Their sound included no few nods to what I'm assuming are current trends in teenage mersh pop, which is admittedly the sort of thing I avoid by instinct, but there's no doubting that everyone on stage is talented and brimming with youthful energy. In the end, this was goofy fun, and at any rate, it's nice to know that in 2011 that the next generation of rappers are still urging people to throw their hands in the air — and subsequently to wave them like they just don't care.
Some older hands of the old school were up next as soul-rockers Steamboat took the stage. This is another band that I had some difficulty imagining in being contained to a half-hour set, given that they tend to prefer more sprawling shows where they can groove for long enough to get people up and dancing — and then exhausted, and then dancing again. Keeping things relatively straightforward for the festival set, this was just the "core" six-piece version of the band, sans driving horn section or other accoutrements they use to mix up their sets.
They still managed to get a good groove going early, leading off with "Bread and Butter", one of many cuts that the band has perfected on stage but not yet released as a recording. In fact, most of the set was dedicated to songs newer than the bands two EP's, but there was nothing "brand new" ready to be played. Still, plenty to dig in songs like "Right Back in Your Heart" and the set ended with a guest turn from Maylee Todd.
After that sweaty experience, heading outside for the next set was a more-than-welcome idea, even if the overcast skies of a couple hours previous were now looking a little more threatening. Introducing a new outdoor location for the festival, there was a stage set up right beside the pond between the Lighthouse and the water filtration plant. The clearing was home to a boat graveyard, with a matching stage constructed by the Whippersnapper crew. The faded sign reading "Paradise Falls" completed the noir-ish environment for The Wooden Sky to play against.
Gavin Gardiner's band can play it roadhouse rough when required, but can also tone it down to perform with nuanced atmospherics, and that was largely what they did here, keyboards acting like a protective blanket against the dark clouds overhead. There were a couple new songs in the mix, and during one of them, in time with the instrumental break there were suddenly fireworks bursting overhead — a very delightful surprise. As if that was too much for the sky to take, however, as the smoke cleared, the first drops of rain began to fall. A whole lotta tarps were hurredly pulled over gear as the band finished their set, the last song gaining an even larger fanfare of fireworks dazzling against the quickly-darkening sky. Truly the sort of stuff that memories are made of.
Listen to a song from this set here.
The next set had originally been slated to be on the outdoor stage as well, and though it looked as if the rain wasn't going to have a lot of staying power, the prudent decision was made to move DD/MM/YYYY back inside. That led to a bit of a scramble to keep things on schedule — this was one show that could not run late — so the band started playing while still sorting out the aftermath of a blown fuse. Admittedly, though, gear failure sorta feels like an organic part of the band's sound, given their propensity for creating a glitchy herky-jerk tapestry of noise. They managed to ride out the roughness at the start and keep flowing along. It had been more than a couple years since I'd seen a full set from the daymonths, and it seemed to me that some of the increased musicality that has found its ways into their recordings (there was a palpable shift with '09's Black Square) is coming out in the live show. Which isn't to say they're mellowing out, by any means, they're just a bit less aggressively/shiftingly noisy.
I came back from a cooling break outside to note a pair of lecterns set up at the end of the room, covered in electronic gear while a single lightbulb dangled from an extension cord overhead. The movie screen behind the stage was pulled down as Rich Aucoin hurredly got his equipment ready to go. Projected visuals are a big part of Aucoin's live presentation, and as everything wrapped up, he began running the video, which even included a segment for the sound check. As the room filled back in, the set began with a wonderful prelude — Aucoin had obviously been carefully making observations all day, and as the music slowly built, a slideshow of messages about the day's events and performers flashed on the screen.
If Aucoin has one great talent beyond his technical gifts, it's that he knows how to do lift in a way that can elevate even the most jaded heart, his simple messages cutting through to the immediacy of the now, where we're all in this together.
The performance itself was — and was probably engineered to be — a dancey blur. Each song came front-loaded with instructions for the chorus and then burst by, with explosions of confetti and dance circles and Aucoin — with his cordless microphone — working the crowd at the centre of it all. The set ended, as is usually the case, with most of the crowd gathered together under a rainbow parachute fluttering aloft just under the ceiling — which felt perfectly suited in this former elementary school lunchroom. Exhausting but kinda exhilarating, it felt like the perfect way to end the festival.
On the whole, the Festival was a triumph, and well-done by everyone involved. Given the massive good vibes engendered and what was already a demand-outstripping-supply situation, it looks like the biggest problem for next year is going to be accommodating everyone who wants in.
Addendum: I have more photos from the weekend posted in an album over at the MFS Facebook page.
Artist: Evening Hymns
Song: Spectral Dusk
Recorded at Recorded on Gibraltar Point Beach (The ALL CAPS! Island Festival), August 13, 2011.
Evening Hymns - Spectral DuskYou would sit by yourself / at the end of the day / watching spectral dusk / settle in on Ontario Lake — My preliminary notes for this set can be found here. N.B. Regrettably, there's a bad burst of cellphone interference in the middle here. But there's also those waves.
The C is for Cure (evening show) (feat. Timber Timbre / Austra / Evening Hymns)
The Music Gallery. Saturday, January 29, 2011.
Following the warm'n'folksy matinée show there was time to stretch the legs out and then find some friends in the Music Gallery's fellowship room before it was time for the nightcap. It too was organized by Bruce Peninsula's Matt Cully as a fundraiser for his bandmate and friend Neil Haverty, who had been diagnosed with leukemia a few months previously. This show was a ticketed affair which had sold out pretty quickly, given that a couple of the bands might normally be seen in larger venues.
Leading off the evening was Jonas Bonnetta's Evening Hymns, who were slightly upsized from when I had seen them just a couple weeks before. Bonnetta (vox/guit) was joined by mainstay Sylvie Smith (backing vox/bass) as well as Tim Bruton (also of Matters and Forest City Lovers) on electric piano.
Now back from their journey north to Perth, Ontario to record their second album Spectral Dusk, Bonnetta's mind was mostly on his new songs. There was only "Cedars" to represent debut album Spirit Guides, and after that the set focused on the fresh stuff. There was more familiarity and confidence in the delivery of the new songs — "Arrows", for one, sounded a little more lived-in — but this was evidence that there hadn't been a radical change in Bonetta's approach, with his plaintive, emotional appeals burnished by Smith's warm voice.
There was one break from the new material for a cover of Tim Hardin's "Reason to Believe", and that fit in just fine. Owing to his treatment schedule, Neil Haverty wasn't able to be at the show, but as Bonnetta closed with a solo rendition of "Spectral Dusk", sent out as a dedication, it was easy to believe that the vibrations would resonate his way.1
There was a very different vibe and some tangible excitement in the crowd for the show's middle act. For although Katie Stelmanis was well-known locally for her various projects — including a stint in Bruce Peninsula's choir — this was a first chance for most to see her Austra project in full force. Although those keeping an eye out had plenty of chances to see the band evolving from a "solo" project to a band, the news that Austra had signed to Domino Records and the unleashing of single "Beat and the Pulse" in the preceding couple weeks meant that there was suddenly a lot of buzz around the group and the expectation of something new.
The set, however, started with a moment that could have fit with her former musical incarnations, as Stelmanis emerged alone to take a seat behind the Music Gallery's grand piano. Lyrically though, it was almost like a manifesto, descriptive of what was about to come: "The morning I was born again / I was made into a beast". That complete, the rest of the band emerged while Stelmanis moved centre stage beside her keyboard. And as they launched into "Lose It", she revealed what sort of beast she had become.
All at once, there were lights flashing and beats pulsing and a massive amount of throbbing energy from the stage. Comparing this to the "Private Life" band of a year before is rather instructive — these are mostly the same players and mostly the same songs, but the sound and attitude are something else entirely. For one thing, the band's leader had become as emboldened as her music. I remember seeing Stelmanis a few times around the time her debut album Join Us came out. Especially vivid in my memory is seeing her open for Fucked Up, Hallowe'en '08 — in those days, playing mostly alone, even while pumping out her operatic tracks Stelmanis would often be up on stage in plaid and a trucker's hat, looking down at her keyboards, closed in on herself. Now, her look was totally different — bold, eyes on the crowd, with long hair unfurled and wearing check-me-out nylons with a long run down the left leg.
Her band were also visually striking, starting with the Tasseomancy twins (Romi and Sari Lightman) flanking her. Everyone was covered in glitter, even the shirtless Dorian Wolf on bass. The band was rather striking musically, as well, propelled by the thunderous force of Maya Postepski on drums and Ryan Wonsiak on synths tucked behind Stelmanis. And, at the centre of it all, that voice. When "Lose It" finished, such was the shock/impact that the crowd was silent for a second, breaking into applause only as the next track (b-side "Young and Gay") began.
It was one of those rare moments where I thought to myself, "oh — well, this could get rather big." It definitely crossed my mind that this might be my only chance to see the band this close up — never mind in a sit-down environment. "Beat and the Pulse"2 — the only song from the band that was widely heard at this point — was greeted with loud cheers, but they were well-deserved, as the performance was totally convincing. In a final unexpected twist, the set closed with a dark-disco version of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" — given the pervading sense of ominousness in the rest of the set, perhaps it was meant as a lighter touch for the the audience to go out on.
In taking her penchant for operatic pop and marrying it to dancefloor-friendly beats, Stelmanis has clearly given herself a bigger canvas to paint upon — something that a lot more people can "get" right off the bat that still allows her to deploy her striking talents. We spend a lot of time talking about artists "developing", and often it happens incrementally right in front of us, but it's rather satisfying to be there when something like this gels into something greater than the previous sum of its parts.3
Listen to a track from this set here.
After a final burst of MC'ing from Matt Cully, drawing winners in the day's raffles, the room was plunged into darkness as Taylor Kirk, flashlight in hand, made his way to the stage. He hung the flashlight on his mic stand, shining down on his pedals, but there was no other illumination at all. It was so dark in the sanctuary that cars passing outside cast moving brakelight streaks across the ceiling — bringing to mind childhood memories of being tucked into bed, waiting for a sliver of moonlight to provide some comfort from the night's un-namable terrors.
That would probably be about the right state of mind for a Timber Timbre gig, given Kirk's fondness for ooky-spooky evil couched in a bluesy vernacular. Having seen only his gear on stage I wasn't surprised that this was a solo set, but it is an unusual occurrence these days, as he normally performs as a trio with Simon Trottier and Mika Posen. "I haven't done this for a really long time like this, by myself," he confirmed near the start, noting it was now a somewhat discomforting experience to face the songs and the audience on his own.
After opening with "No Bold Villain" (from 2008's self-titled breakthrough), he focused on new material from the then-forthcoming (and awesomely-titled) Creep On Creepin' On, including the title track and "Bad Ritual". Playing with just his guitar, he did receive a boost from his pedals, allowing for a harmony effect on his voice in the choruses of "Black Water". "All I need is some sunshine," he sings in that song, albeit in the voice of someone who seems pretty clear that it's not forthcoming. Complementing the dark mood established by the sentiments like that, Kirk would occasionally take a pull from a skull-shaped bottle between songs. It was no surprise that he exhibited a macabre sense of humour to match:
Taylor Kirk: When I get cancer I want a festival just like this. [peering out into the crowd] Matt?
Matt Cully [from somewhere in the back]: I'm on it. [beat] Please don't get cancer.
TK: I think I'm gettin'... [gestures] I think I feel something.
MC: A sore throat is not cancer.
TK: [long pause] Cancer jokes are not funny. Forgive me. [beat] Neil would laugh.
That would serve as the lead-in to the death-obsessed "Demon Host". Closing out the main set, "Lay Down In The Tall Grass" led into "Under Your Spell" (from 2007's debut Medicinals), which ended with some wild stomping causing splattery amplifier echos. Called back for an encore, Kirk did one more old one, the thematically perfect "There is a Cure". After that, Matt Cully had only to come up to the stage and ask the crowd to give a round of applause for Neil to close out a pretty memorable night.4
Listen to a track from this set here.
1There's no release date for Spectral Dusk yet, but I imagine we'll be hearing something once summer's warmth starts to fade. The band will be playing an evening show on the first day of the ALL CAPS! festival on Toronto Island, Saturday, August 13, 2011.
2 In an album where four songs begin with the definite article, it always throws me off that this isn't one of them.
3 After a buzz-explosion festival appearance and an album-release show at Lee's, Austra's upward trajectory continues with a homecoming show at the Phoenix on Thursday, December 1, 2011. Tasseomancy, whose Ulalume album is coming out in August, will be doing double duty in opening the show.
4 Time, in this case, has allowed for more of a happy ending than the slightly-awkward cæsura at the moment of this show. Responding well to treatment, Neil Haverty has been able to rejoin his bandmates, who made a return to live duty at the NXNE festival. They'll be playing again on Thursday August 11, 2011 at the Lower Ossington Theatre as part of the SummerWorks festival, when they'll be previewing tracks from sophomore album Open Flames. After hanging in limbo for most of this year, word is that it will be coming out on October 4th, 2011 — and following a tour there'll be a proper local release show for it on October 27th, 2011 at Lee’s Palace. Go and see the bands you love while they're still with us, and give them a fond hug while you have a chance — none of us can take our tomorrows for granted.
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