Recording: magiceyeimage

Artist: magiceyeimage

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at The Emmet Ray, May 21, 2018.

magiceyeimage - [excerpt]

magiceyeimage and friends - [excerpt]

Well, it had been no slight amount of time since I had last seen this trio in action, back before percussionist Phil Melanson was such a fixture in these parts. Shifting his base of action to T.O. has made this unit (alongside Gabriel Drolet on double bass and Simon Labbé on guit) less active, so it was a real treat to lean back and soak up their slow momentum. Close in spirit to locals Aurochs (and further afield, The Necks), there's a joy here of exploring gestures and slowly-transforming textures more than any sort of melodic structures. As the evening glow from the skylight began to fade, everything seemed in place in the dusky gloom — as if the musicians were feeling their way through unseen terrain, never too forcefully loud as the roar of trucks and other streetsounds occasionally overwhelmed their sounds.

After a break, the trio were joined for a second set by a couchful of singers. (If my notes are correct, they were: Alex Samaras, Frederique Roy, Felicity Williams, Robin Dann and Eugénie Jobin Tremblay.) With occasional Victoria Day fireworks snapping in the background, this felt like a long-weekend cottage-y soundscape, like you could open your eyes and catch the last glimmers of the sunset over the lake.