Recording: Rapport

Artist: Rapport

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Workman Arts – Main Hall (Long Winter 7.4), February 9, 2019.

Rapport - unknown

With its multiple floors, cavernous halls, creaky stairwells and peeling-paint grandeur, Workman Arts might be the closest thing Long Winter has found to its old home at the pre-restoration Great Hall. Tina Weymouth's stage presence in Stop Making Sense should have inspired the formation of more bands, but thankfully we have this one. The only thing not to love about this group is that they are still keeping their music mostly on stage, with just a single track up on their bandcamp. But their live show (with Stephen "Omhouse" Foster sitting in on drums this time out) remains packed to the brim with infectiously joyful energy — if their lyrical invocations of "freedom" might seem ripped from the song playing over the end credits dance scene in the 80's teen flick of your choice, it's always completely lived in and never just a pastiche. Complete with a "bark-in" to begin, this song teeters on the brink of falling apart about two-thirds of the way through, but it still manages to to elicit plenty of joy, whether or not it evokes, say, the backing vox from The Go-Betweens' "Streets of Your Town" and the sequencer chug of a Game Theory track.

[Rapport will be playing a Pop Montreal showcase at The Baby G on Saturday, May 11th with Lydia Kepinski, Hanorah and Casey MQ.]

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!