Recording: Jef E. Barbara's Black Space

Artist: Jef E. Barbara's Black Space

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Artscape Gibraltar Point (Camp Wavelength), August 19, 2016.

Jef E. Barbara's Black Space - unknown

Following and expanding on the template of last year's successful festival, Wavelength returned to the island with a meticulously-executed event that included an exciting range of music and a beach full of art beside festival headliner Lake Ontario. It also managed to be a stress-reducing rather than a stress-inducing time — rather like a weekend at the cottage, even if the city was just out of view.

After some quieter time away, Jef Barbara (now Jef Elise Barbara) has returned with a hot single, a new backing band and a set of new material. Creating room for textured groove explorations, the new material finds the glam in melding the cosmic and the quotidian (the title "Spacecraft Dinner" captures that juxtaposition nicely). Deep bass, sax licks and Elena Stoodley's backing vox brought it all together, even re-appropriating some doot-de-doo's from Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" in this cut.

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

Recording: Jef Barbara

Artist: Jef Barbara

Song: Jef Barbara - Soft To The Touch

Recorded at The Silver Dollar Room ("Silent Shout"), January 17, 2014.

Jef Barbara - Soft To The Touch

Full review to follow. The first time I encountered Montréal's Jef Barbara was intriguing, but, paired as it was with the pomp'n'gravitas of Yamataka//Sonic Titan there was a less sympathetic underlying vibe. But as part of a Silent Shout Saturday night dance party in a packed Silver Dollar, this was something else entirely, with the glammy grooves getting the crowd surging along. Barbara's gonna be back in town this week, joining Light Fires in opening up for JD Samson & Men at The Garrison on Sunday for what should be a spectacularly danceriffic night.

Recording: Jef Barbara

Artist: Jef Barbara

Song: Wild Boys

Recorded at The Garrison, November 6, 2013.

Jef Barbara - Wild Boys

Full review to follow. Opening for Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, Jef Barbara brought a different Montréal flavour to his set. Dressed in a head-to-toe sequined bodysuit, he was something like a human disco ball (albeit one with lithe dance moves) at the centre of the stage. This song is not a Duran Duran cover, but some of the same dance/glam pop sensibility is embedded in its DNA. I'd missed out on seeing him previously, with his new album Soft To The Touch just out, I'm sure he'll be having his own show here sooner rather than later. As this extended-groovin' set-closer shows, this stuff works rather well in a live setting.