In-store: Doug Paisley

Doug Paisley

Soundscapes. Tuesday, May 31, 2011.

Though Constant Companion, the second album from local troubadour Doug Paisley had originally come out near the end of 2010 on Brooklyn-based imprint No Quarter, it had been picked up for a domestic re-issue by MapleMusic, leading to a charm offensive and PR blitz (about which, more anon). Although part of that was trying to break through to the broader public — the band looked mildly discombobulated, as their long day's promo work had started at 5:30 a.m. to get ready for a TV breakfast show appearance — it also made sense to celebrate the album at Soundscapes, who had been championing it for months.

Which isn't to say that Paisley wasn't a bit skeptical coming in: "I gotta say, I've only done one in-store in my life, and it was in Chicago at this apparently well-known record store. And it was the first time I ever toured in the States, so I was pretty excited to go to this big-deal in-store. And I went down there, and it was just me and the guy that set up my mic and this guy that was shopping for electronica records... and I was kinda in the way."

Happily, Paisley was buoyed up with the robust turnout on hand, and lead off, like the album, with "No One But You". And, like the album, Jen Castle was on hand to sing harmony. Besides her, Paisley was playing with a three-piece backing band, keyb/bass/drums.¹ This was a bit less of a hony-tonk rockin' alignment than the last time I'd seen him play, but being a bit more stripped-down was a chance to really hear the fabulous timbre of Paisley's voice. He also revealed himself to be a nimble picker on his semi-acoustic.

His technical gifts, however, are just means to deliver his songs. The country/folk tunes are expertly-constructed, but never just feel like technical exercises when delivered with Paisley's soulful conviction. His personality was also quite present in his winning banter. Like the proverbial back-porch balladeer, Paisley isn't one to rush through things, taking a moment for random small-talk as he tuned — at one point taking comfort in the small dog that one attendee had brought to the store.

The setlist mostly stuck to the "new" album at hand, though he did dip back to his earlier, self-titled effort for "Broken in Two" and "What About Us?" and threw in the unrecorded "Song My Love Can Sing" — nine songs, all told, with Castle returning for a couple more before set's end.

"I'd like to say you guys have redeemed in-stores for me," he said before launching into the last song. "I'm one for two now." Finishing with the apropos "Always Say Goodbye", Paisley closed with a reminder for the accompanying "release party" full gig a few days ahead — about which, also more anon.²

Listen to a track from this set here.

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¹ The latter was filled out by the always-flexible Dan Gaucher, currently out on tour with Sandro Perri.

² It should be noted that Paisley has already had another new release in the interim, with the Golden Embers EP arriving last month.

In-store: Jennifer Castle

Jennifer Castle

Soundscapes. Tuesday, May 24, 2011.

There was the evening's honest sunlight and poetry in the air as I tromped down Grace to head to Soundscapes, lightness in my heart and broken lightbulbs on the sidewalk. Altogether perfect for an acoustic mini-set from Jennifer Castle, whose music also mixes sweet spirit and dark soul-murmurs.

In the flesh, mind you, she always seems bright and cheery, until she lays her hands on her guitar, closes her eyes and starts channelling something. Before she could get down to it, however, while a friend brought up a bouquet of lilacs to set at the foot of her chair she went over to the cash register to borrow a copy of her own album to have something to use as a setlist.

This would be a solo set on electric guitar, used to pick out a spare backdrop for her songs. Castle's playing can be very minimal, but an occasional flourish would occasionally remind that the paring down is a deliberate choice, and never a result of ability's limitations. As I've seen her do before, Castle moved through the set in mini-suites, leading with "Way of the Crow" seguing through four more titles before stopping to let the crowd respond with applause.

And then another burst of songs. Eyes closed, Castle manages to give the impression of disciplined restraint and instinctive sensuousness at the same time, and maybe in the murky flow from song to song there's an undertone that all these dualities — cheerful singer/grim troubadour; technique/improvised drift; the joy of love/a hurting heart — are cheap perceptual constructions. She's looked at clouds from both sides now.

Most of the songs would be from the excellent Castlemusic album that this set was celebrating, including "Misguided" — which I don't think I'd heard live before. "For My Friends", a high point from the older You Can't Take Anyone also found its way in there. And then a pause to slip on her capo and chat for a moment before diving back in a new key with the evocative "Powers", and then playing the unreleased "Sailing Away" (and its instrumental counterpart) she'd played at her Horseshoe gig.

Dank bar or cheery store, porch or leafy park, Castle brings an earthy sense of intimacy. The songs evoke both loneliness and self-reliance alongside the ease given by small comforts: a bouquet of flowers, a quick laugh or a bottle of wine ("lord send me laughter / and honey don't be long with my drink"). And of course, the comfort brought by sharing a song with a bunch of friends.

Listen to a song from this set here.

In-store: Bonjay

Bonjay

Soundscapes. Saturday, February 12, 2011.

A chance to warm up on a Saturday night with Bonjay bringing their forward-thinking pop-inflected electro-dancehall to Soundscapes. Vocalist Alanna Stuart was well pleased to be playing an all-ages show, surveying the crowd for any minors who'd be unable to see them in their usual latenight haunts. They still brought the dancefloor energy, starting with "Stumble" and "Shotta" from their excellent Broughtupsy EP.

Stuart's vox simmered on their mashed-up combo cover of Feist's "How My Heart Behaves" and "Honey Honey", and that set up a quieter middle of the set — "Creepin" worked really well in this sort of attentive environment where people were more watching the band than waiting to dance anyway.

"It's weird to be able to see all your faces, and you're sober and paying such close attention," Stuart opined. And as unusually bright as it was for them, it was also a chance for curious onlookers to watch them at work — especially to observe beat-provider Pho on the mixer and MPD's. For tools like that it's less instinctive to know what the musicians are doing — as opposed to, say, watching someone play a guitar — so I was fascinated to see just how busy he was, including keeping up with a lot of real-time percussion.

One of the rockist complaints of bands playing to backing tracks — certainly I've brought it up a time or two — is that it doesn't allow for contingency, that it smacks too much of a grim determinism where the contour of the musical experience is preordained. But it's entirely inadequate to just blankly assume that every band like this is "just pressing play" — something I saw proven in front of my eyes. At the start of their cover of Caribou's "Jamelia", something went askew, and Pho was improvising, trying to keep things rolling along, just as much as any other musician would, the two bandmates keenly watching each other to work out on the fly where the song was going.

It was a satisfying and generous full half-hour, the set ending with "Frawdulent" and "Gimmee Gimmee", a pair of more aggro bass-heavy rockers. The latter ended with Pho bringing the siren-like riddim up to the set's loudest levels, giving everyone present a jolt of energy to send them back out into the cold Saturday night.¹

Listen to a track from this set here. And as is usually the case at Soundscapes in-stores, Colin Medley was on hand with his camera, so if you want some video action you can watch the band perform Shotta here.

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¹ After spending some time in Berlin crafting material for their pending debut full-length, Bonjay have apparently been bringing it even harder to the stage, adding a live drummer to the lineup. The band is going to be headed west in September and east in October, but keep your eyes open for a hometown show.

In-store: Dr. Ew / Steven McKay

Dr. Ew (Steven McKay)

Soundscapes. Tuesday, November 23, 2010.

Down to Soundscapes for a double-header album release celebration with two overlapping bands sharing a tour. First up was Steven McKay, playing with a different lineup than when I'd seen him before, here backed with a rhythm section of Spencer Cole (drums) and Mike Le Riche (of The Darcys, bass) plus a pair of backing vocalists (Allie Hughes and Alex Samaras). Probably best known for his work as the drummer in the rollicking Bruce Peninsula, on stepping up with his own songs, McKay is more of a smooth-voiced singer-songwriter.

Crooning "Ignite" to start things off, McKay presented a set of songs drawn from his recently-released self-titled effort. He was clearly excited to be playing at Soundscapes: "this is totally the best thing that's ever happened to me," he said, before pausing to add, "except for getting married. [beat] And having cats." And if that sounds like hyperbole (even with the qualifications), he followed it up with a story about randomly meeting Leslie Feist at the previous time he'd played an in-store here with Bruce Peninsula.

Top marks, then, for his engaging banter and slightly off-beat stage presence. Perhaps reining it in a bit in the more intimate surroundings of the record store, he did have a slightly more serious deportment than that last time I saw him — so even though he was still starting songs with Springsteen-esque count-ins, here he was just whispering them to himself like little mantras instead of belting them out. His unassuming manner goes well with the songs, which are earnest little creations. Handled wrongly, they could have a fatal lack of pretense — songs about the quotidian pleasures of doing the dishes can easily be as dull as, well, doing the dishes — but the arrangements and musical collaboration are what makes this memorable.

That's especially true with the backing vocals, which substantially elevate this material. On "Restore Me", Allie Hughes' vocals give the song the tinge of an old country number, and the utterly sweet, heart-on-sleeve madrigal "Emma Comes Home" shows how something ridiculous and common (love, say, or fa-la-las) can suddenly burst out with vividness.

After keeping the mood chill with "Slow Down" (McKay acknowledging the song's new video), the band went out on an upbeat note with "Of All the Places" — and here, McKay finally allowed himself to belt out his Springsteen-esque count-in.

Listen to a song from this set here.

The other half of the in-store featured Dr. Ew, the nom de guerre of Drew Smith, fondly remembered as a member of beloved local combo The Bicycles. And this set would surely elicit a surge of excitement from any Bicycles fan, as Smith's backing band for this show included his old bandmates Andrew Scott (guitar) and Dana Snell (drums). The group was rounded out by Mike Le Riche, remaining from the previous set.¹

Celebrating the release of his rather fab Gadzooks album, the set started off with album opener "The House of Many Mansions" and bounced along from there. Just as The Bicycles' songs were quick bursts of sugar-coated goodness, Smith's new material zips past in a hurry — this set was quicker than McKay's before it, but packed in more songs owing to Smith's characteristic brevity. Having Steven McKay on hand meant that the two vocalists could recreate their duet "If You're Happy", with McKay's rich, deep tones contrasting to Smith's higher register. On a couple more ("I'm Getting Fat" and "No More Space") the performance was agreeably loose and rangy before Smith closed this out with the quieter ballad "Let's Make It Legitimate".

Because so much of Smith's métier is, frankly, a little goofy (from his stage name to that album title down to some of his subject matter) it's easy to write this all off as trite bubblegum piffle. But that would miss the best parts of what's going here. First and foremost, this is really well-crafted material. And there's a general tendency to discount music that is cloaked in signifiers of giddy goofiness (instead of, say, impassioned anguish) as though that were somehow less meaningful. Well, cheer up Sleepy Jean — this is the good stuff here.

Listen to a song from this set here.

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¹ This might have been a bit of a one-off lineup — in a couple subsequent times I've seen Smith perform since this hasn't been reprised.

In-store: PS I Love You

PS I Love You

Soundscapes. Tuesday, October 26, 2010.

Well, I didn't need to go to this one, given that I was heading down to The Garrison after this for the full gig. But that's okay. I always enjoy stopping in at Soundscapes, where you can get good and close to the artists.

Personnel-wise, there's not that far that PS I Love You can strip down, with Paul Saulnier (guitar, bass pedals, vox) and Benjamin Nelson (drums) being the full complement. And — within the limits of the store's PA system — they didn't cut back on the wailing rock volume they work with. So instead, we got a compressed version of the set that band would be playing later. They lead off with the opening trio of songs from the newly-released Meet Me at the Muster Station before switching things up with non-album single "Starfield". The quick set closed out with "Butterflies & Boners", making for a crunchy little quarter-hour taster of what would be to come later in the evening.

Listen to a track from this set here.

In-store: The Drums

The Drums

Soundscapes. Saturday, October 16, 2010.

Unlike some of the more expansive outings I'd seen recently, this was a traditional "taster" sort of in-store performance, a quickie for the band before shifting down the street to The Mod Club later that night for their proper gig. A fine chance for me to check out Brooklyn's much-buzzed-about The Drums. They turned out to be four fresh-faced lads, Americans paying tribute to 80's-style "indie" British guitar rock. They had a two guitars plus drums setup behind vocalist Jonathan Pierce, although one guitar player was functionally playing the same parts a bassist would have contributed. Pierce, meanwhile, sang in a slightly affectless tone, although the songs — leading off with "Best Friend" — had a tightly-packed pop feel.

Catching up with the album after the fact, it was interesting to note that while the recorded versions are straight-forward and fuss-free in their arrangements, they sounded almost baroque compared to the spartan crispness that the band brought live, stripping back the subtle layers of vocals and keyboards that are found on the album. Presented like this "Book Of Stories" had something not found on its album incarnation. This was just a quick three-song taster, but a fine introduction. The band aren't boldly forging into any new territory with what they do but they're awfully easy to listen to, so I can understand why they'd gotten people paying attention.

Listen to a track from this set here.

In-store: The Golden Dogs

The Golden Dogs

Soundscapes. Thursday, September 23, 2010.

Y'never know what you're gonna get at an in-store performance — whether it's going to be a three-song acoustic taster or an amped-up rager. This one was at the latter end of the scale, with the band playing what turned out to be a full-length set. I was passingly familiar with local stalwarts The Golden Dogs, but, aside from having seen their members pitching in onstage to other things here and there, I'd never seen a proper show from the band. Though they have a solid back catalogue to draw from, they were here to celebrate Coat Of Arms, their third album released recently on the ever-reliable Nevado label.

The store was filling up nicely as the band set up. They even brought furniture — at first I thought that the old candelabra that keyboard player Jessica Grassia was setting up was just for show, but it turned out to be an essential prop, used as a holder for a series of round, kickdrum-sized signs each illustrated with a song's title. They'd be swapped into place as each selection began, adding a bit of visual dazzle to the proceedings as well as being like manna for anyone making notes of what the setlist was.

The band's music worked in that vein, too. A well-worn foundation with some bright-coloured flair on top. The Golden Dogs are undoubtedly not too far away on the spacetime/rock continuum from, say, fellow local revivalists Zeus — although there's a bit more of a power pop sound in evidence there's still a third-hand British Invasion kind of feel. To look at it another way: I could imaging this band covering "She's Not There" without breaking a sweat.

Mixing all of that up, opener "Dear Francis" had a bit of a bluesy tone underneath it's rock'n'roll attack. Besides the hatted Dave Azzolini, who sang most of the lead vox, the band also has a capable secondary weapon in Jessica Grassia, who took the mic for a couple (including "Cheap Umbrellas"), keeping things nicely mixed up. Whether listening for the little bits borrowed here and there (like "Travel Time" which lifts a line from Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne") or basking in "Lester"'s bright rays of AM glory (its pictograph, in fact, included a radiant sun) there was a lot to like here. The band even threw in a brand new one, called "Pretending".

I also dug how they were even entertaining as they performed an elaborate switchover act while rotating instruments, with a complicated three-way drumstick and bass exchange that ensured the hi-hat rhythm was never stopped, even as a new drummer took over. The set ended with "Burst"'s fading reverse echo guitar shimmering over the crowd, as someone from the audience started calling for a "disco dance party!". The band then shrugged and went ahead and did it, or at least jammed out a dance-y little instrumental, as a guitar was passed out to an audience member, who appeared to be too shy to try and add to the outro.

In the end, we got a fifty-five minute, thirteen song set that celebrated the hell out of Coat Of Arms by presenting every track from the album. You can't ask for much more than that for free.

Listen to a track from this set here.

In-store: Broken Social Scene

Broken Social Scene

Soundscapes / Sonic Boom Records. Sunday, May 9, 2010.

As a special hometown celebration for the release of their new album, Forgiveness Rock Record, word came out that Broken Social Scene were going to play a day-long mini-tour with four sets at four of Toronto's premiere independent record stores, with free tickets given out in advance with purchase of the album. Though I'm not particularly in the loop, I managed to hear about this in time to get tickets to the last two of the days' shows.¹

Figuring this'd be the sort of thing people would be eager to get into, I wandered by Soundscapes early, and indeed, there was a queue already forming outside the store, a varied mix of older and younger folks.² There was a bit of confusion in all the hurly-burly, with a coterie of the ticketless trying to decide if they would have a chance to get in, but on the whole, it was a very well-organized affair. Soundscapes even went all-out in bringing in some risers to make a small stage — a literal step up from their usual in-store arrangements.

As soon as the door was opened and people started filing in, the band — fully set up and on the stage — began playing an instrumental entry groove, and once everyone was mostly settled in they segued into "World Sick", the new album's lead-off track. A quick glance across the stage revealed the basic current core lineup was on the stage³, rocking acoustic guitars with indoor sunglasses the order of the day. The slow and gentle arrangement set the tone for this performance and hit the right emotional tone — world-weary but guardedly optimistic, which is BSS' stock-in-trade, really.

The vibe was pretty relaxed, with the band taking time in between songs to chat with each other and the crowd. The interaction included one of those Kevin Drew curveballs, where he threw in a singalong chorus from "Money Changes Everything"⁴ at the end of a slowed-down "Superconnected". Suddenly I was remembering why I love this band.

Claiming a cold, Drew asked afterwards if anyone had a tissue. "I just had an erotic thought," he joked.

"Me and My Hand!" shouted someone in the audience, referring to the onanistic closing track of the new album.

"I can't sing 'Me and My Hand' with my mom here on Mother's Day," Drew replied — though while the band tuned, he did try out a few lines of a rewritten version, now called "Me and My Mom".

Meanwhile, the other bandmembers stepped up as well. Andrew Whiteman sang on "Art House Director", the sprightliest thing yet in the set, and while introducing "Stars and Sons", Brendan Canning talked about having last played Soundscapes in 2002⁵, taking care to send a shoutout to BSS alum and former Soundscapes employee John Crossingham. before a clap-along run through the song.

"Fucked Up Kid" from Kevin Drew's "solo" album Spirit If... was a slightly less-expected addition to the set, and perfectly suited for the stripped-down instrumentation. The band was especially unhurried on this one, letting the relaxed instrumental portion slowly unfurl, stretching the song out even longer than its album version. Then, in a true goofball left turn, Canning lead a song dedicated to a friend's late dog, which was treated with as much seriousness by the band as any of the other songs, with chords being explained before it started and Spearin throwing in a nifty melodica solo.

Looking back and forth at each other to figure out what to play as a final song, someone in the crowd shouted "All to All", and the band took up the challenge. "Well, we'd be winging it on the spot," Drew warned, but they quickly worked out an acoustic arrangement of the synth-heavy number. "I'm looking forward to this," Canning said as the others behind him argued over what key the song should be in. As Whiteman held the riff at the start, it almost felt it was going to fall apart, but keeping things going, Lisa Lobsinger plunged into the vocal. It turned to out to work pretty well, with the band excitedly rushing the tempo but holding it together.

Overall, quite exceptional.

I'd previously put up a track from this set here, but you can also hear another one here.

With some time to spare before the next round, plenty of time for a relaxed walk up to Bloor and check out the line situation at Sonic Boom, where, indeed there was already a queue forming. Or, rather, two — one for ticketholders, and a much-longer one of unticketed hopefuls trying to snatch a spot. Ran into J., and we stepped in fairly close to the start of the ticketholders' line, with some time to kill examining the racks of DVD's we were standing beside.

Eventually, we moved downstairs, managing to catch a spot close up as the entire basement got crammed full, the staff apparently trying to get in as many of the folks in the non-ticketholders' line as possible. This time the band took the stage in the more traditional way, and with a stronger sense of purpose, probably attributable to the fact that this was more like the band's regular rocktastic set-up with less adjustments to be made on the fly. Leading off with the You Forgot It In People pairing of "Late Nineties Bedroom Rock for the Missionaries" and "Shampoo Suicide", an oldie-but-goodie indeed (as Drew suggested) with all the overlapping sprawl hinted at in BSS' best work still intact.

At the outset more focused and less banter-y than at the Soundscapes, the band moved straight into "7/4 (Shoreline)". Lisa Lobsinger handled the vocal part ably, and it was gratifying to see her approach it in her own way and not merely try to imitate someone else's singing. After finally pausing to chat and pass instruments around⁶, the next segment focused on the new album, represented by the trio of "Forced to Love", "Texico Bitches" and "Water in Hell". All of these were pretty convincing, with a couple possibly surpassing their album versions — in the case of "Water in Hell" perhaps as much for the go-for-gusto slight sloppiness as anything.

Kevin Drew, as is often the case, was filled with a fuck-the-practicalities enthusiasm, willing to turn all the amps as high as they'd go — with Peroff being the sober second thought in this case. Meanwhile, having fun in these environs, everyone wanted to raise the top of their guitar necks to the low basement ceiling. Drew again solicited a round of applause for his mom — and this time he even sang a song to her. It was more than just an improvised riff, too, and seemed like something the band had worked out in advance. Goofy and sweet while being slightly awkward in its earnestness, it fit in quite well with the rest of the material.

"That was the closer right there," Drew concluded after that. But quickly moving on to the "encore", there was an open discussion between band and crowd over what to do next ("'Romance to the Grave?'," Drew responded to one suggestion. "No, I can't do that right after 'Mommy I Love You'!") And sadly, Drew didn't think he could pull off "Sweetest Kill", which I was hoping for.

But instead, in a cool sort of twist, Drew called Julie Doiron, who'd been hanging around in the "backstage" area to add her voice to "Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl". Cool and unexpected, though it didn't have quite as much lift as I've seen the song get in the past. But that might capture the essence of this performance the best — at a technical and even emotional level, I've seen the band reach higher heights, but given the premium that I place of proximity and honest raggedness, this was pretty awesome. And in terms of seeing the band these days, given that I was at such close quarters made this a pretty big deal. Even if their big Island show spectacular might have been, y'know, more and bigger and longer, I chose to forgo that, as any of the additional goodness that they might have brought would have been mostly obviated by the alienation of being further away, in a giant crowd, etc. etc. In other words, utterly unlike meeting them in the basement.

And then, "Meet Me In The Basement", a perfect closer, which hit just right. For all the talk of how instrumental songs can be emotionally ambiguous, this one's joyful triumph seemed obvious here, for audience and band alike — as the song hit the false ending, before the horns punched back in, Drew said, "this is what it sounds like to us when we see all of you!"

And just like in real life where any sort of perfect moment is usually marred by some sort of awkward reality, in the best BSS tradition, there was that sense that the band didn't know how to end the song, as the emotional bombast eased off into a slow, kinda noodly, guitar outro.⁷

A little more than an hour — not bad for a freebie, and pretty good for a band on their fourth show of the day. An excellent time, and a nice reminder that no matter how big they get, Broken Social Scene aren't too big to get up close and personal. I didn't stick around after to wait and hug Kevin Drew, but one gets the impression that that he would have found that totally all right if I had.

Listen to a couple tracks from this set here and here.

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¹ The two shows earlier in the day were at Criminal Records and Rotate This.

² Amusingly, a MuchMusic interviewer working the lineup marched past me (y'know — way out of the demographic) to talk to the teenagers behind me in line and pick their brains about the importance of record stores and so on — a topic that, as they laughed amongst themselves after, they hadn't really put much thought into.

³ That'd be Whiteman, Canning, Drew, Goldberg, Spearin, Peroff and Lobsinger for those with a scorecard. They were augmented on horns by Julia Hamilton and David French.

⁴ Showing he's a man of the people, Drew referred to it as a "Cyndi Lauper song", whereas a true rock snob, of course, would have made a shout out to The Brains.

⁵ The band was obviously enjoying themselves in this environment, including Sam Goldberg, who was flipping through CD's on a shelf behind the stage during the songs he wasn't playing on.

⁶ With the band fully filling up the stage, their guitar rack was stashed on the floor right in front of them, and Drew drafted the nearest fan in the front row as a temporary roadie to pass guitars up between songs.

⁷ And a tip of the hat here to Pete Nema, who in describing the ending of the BSS set at The Island show, nailed the description of this phenomena just right: "Every time I see them, it seems as though they may have an internal competition between band members to see who can leave the stage last. I'm thinking the last person to pack it in wins."

In-store: Daniel, Fred and Julie

Daniel, Fred and Julie

Soundscapes. Monday, April 26, 2010.

Out on a Monday night for an in-store at Soundscapes to revisit a band that I'd seen just a week-and-a-half previously. That this one was a freebie helped, but their full show had been a good enough time to warrant this extended encore.¹ And indeed, there was a pretty full house (er, store) on hand checking this out. It felt even fuller with everyone sitting down — good for sightlines, but hard on these old bones.²

Definitely a looser vibe throughout this set. With the trio more crammed together, there was a more ragged-but-true sound. At first with the shared vocal mic right in front of Julie, her voice was a little on top of everyone else's, but moving it a step further out mostly balanced things out. The set this time started, just like at the Horseshoe show, with "The Gambler and His Bride" and "Runner"³, the opening salvo from the Daniel, Fred and Julie album. But obviously this material isn't entirely rote to the performers, as they stumbled over a line in "I Dream of Jeanie" and had to pause to look at each other and get back on the same page as the crowd had a laugh. Little bumps like that aside, it was good to hear these voices blending together. All told, we got more than enough to justify having come down, even as the audience tried to cajole more songs from the band.

"They don't all translate live," Doiron said, a little apologetically — on account of all the lyrics to be remembered and all that. This somehow sidetracked the band into an on-stage discussion on the merits of JCVD (agreed by all to be a quality film) during an extended discussion on what should be the last song.

"Focus!" someone in the audience somewhat-joshingly chided.

Doiron looked up and into the crowd. "Oh look! A Sappy shirt!" she commented, immediately distracted, before noting, "I can't focus." So, even without without the miniature solo excursions from each of the members colouring in around the musical edges, we still got a chance to witness the personality of the musicians a little bit. And with a half-dozen selections from the album played, we heard nearly as much from it as we did at the full show, both ending with the hauntingly beautiful "Your Love". As always, it's a treat that we have a place like Soundscapes to host intimate shows like this.

Listen to a track from this set here.

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¹ I shan't rehash my introduction to this partnership between Daniel Romano, Fred Squire and Julie Doiron — do check out my notes for the Horseshoe gig for more details.

² On the day that I fall over, legs asleep, after attempting to stand up at the end of one of these in-stores, I hope the fresh-faced youths around me will take pity and not, say, put the boot in while crooning "Singin' in the Rain".

³ Romano's "Runner" would be one of the only two non-traditional songs in the setlist for this show. And for those keeping track at home, "Bonnie Black Bess", "Clementine", and "Johnny Sands" from the album have not made it into the setlist yet.

In-store: Zeus

Zeus

Soundscapes. Saturday, March 6, 2010.

A warm Saturday afternoon giving an early promise of spring made for a fine time to stroll down to Little Italy to visit beloved local music shop Soundscapes. Just as I was about to turn onto College from Grace, a guy leaning out one restaurant's kitchen door waved to his counterpart across the street, who shouted back: "it's too nice to work, eh?" For a moment, everything seems possible, suspended in warm-air delightfulness.

There was some similar excitement inside the store, where I wasn't the only one arriving early to do some browsing prior to snagging a spot as the band set up towards the back of the store. Being timely worked out well as by showtime, the store was well-packed, all the way back to the doors.

This would serve as the end of a big week for Zeus, celebrating the release of their debut full length Say Us, landing on the cover of one of the weeklies and generally making quite a respectable media splash. Although in theory a relatively new band, the rock classicists of Zeus have been on many a local stage, emerging from predecessor bands Paso Mino and the 6ixty8ights and best known in their evolving role as Jason Collett's backing band. Playing for the Soundscapes crowd, the band was in good spirits, presenting their songs in a longer-than-expected set stretching out for about forty-five minutes. The three songwriters — Mike O'Brien, Carlin Nicholson and Neil Quin — shared lead duties and rotated between bass, guitar and some dangerously-ungrounded keyboards while Rob Drake stayed in place behind the kit. They were all in a relaxed mood, freely bantering with the crowd between songs, keeping their frequent instrument swaps from becoming mere dead time. Carlin Nicholson was perhaps the most gregarious, pausing to ask what music people in the crowd had been buying and investigating the Parlovr disc that had accidentally been knocked from the shelf.

The band is obviously very comfortable in their influences and not too worried about being "cool" — this is, after all, a band that covered Phil Collins-era Genesis on their Sounds Like EP. Their vintage equipment helped to give them a classic, sweet sound that could have leave the listener with the impression they're hearing a lost nugget from Badfinger or some such band. All told, the band played nine of Say Us' twelve songs, throwing in the non-album "Permanent Scar" (about which I cannot dig up any information). Well enough to leave a fab feeling in the crowd dispersing back out into the cooling early evening.

Listen to a track from this set here.