last night’s noise: wintersleep follow-up

While we posted some photos of Wintersleep/The Besnard Lakes/Rah Rah’s fantastic November 3 show at The Market, (tfc)’s Brendan MaGee wrote up this more in depth look for QRO Magazine:

Rah Rah setting the stage at the Market in Fredericton

Saskatchewan, Canada’s Rah Rah had the honour of kicking off this November night to remember – an honour that quickly turned into a listening pleasure for the fifty or so initial concert fans at Fredericton’s The Market.

While the energetic seven-piece were touring on the heels of a very respectable sophomore album, there were definite concerns that Breaking Hearts couldn’t quite measure up to the crashing violin crescendos, roaring guitar riffs, booming percussion and poppy piano hooks that bolstered their debut, 2008’s Going Steady. The powerful prairie collective, though, showed why there was no reason to worry.

Their short-but-sweet set featured an excellent combination of old and new songs – songs that got the ever expanding crowd dancing, swaying, and moving like crazy. While standbys “Fuck NAFTA” and “Duet For Emmylou & Grievous Angel” dominated their set, it was the perfectly timed confetti explosion on “Arrows” that really sent them off with a bang.

 

Rah Rah (pre confetti explosion)

Next up came the Besnard Lakes – presumably out of a time machine set to 1972. Singer Jace Lasek certainly looked the part, and those psychedelic appearances translated perfectly into wild riffs and a hazy shoegaze sound that’s been making critics swoon internationally for the last four years.

The shaggy rockers opened on one of their most well known numbers, and “Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent” set the stage for one heck of a performance. Smoke began pouring out of machines across the stage, and that along with a stellar light show acted as a great backdrop for stunning three part harmonies and shredding guitar solos.

Bassist/singer Olga Goreas whipped out a flute for The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night standout “Chicago Train,” and the instrumental that ensued at the end of it sent shivers throughout the audience. Those who moved along to Lasek’s guitar solos got an amazing workout, and the word “Wow” was suddenly omnipresent in the crowd of 200+.

After encouraging some balloon volleyball, the Montreal quartet took fans back a few years with well known track “Devastation”, before rocking out on what is easily their most popular number. “Albatross” brought another round of anthemic instrumentals, and sent revved up audience members into another quick intermission.

BL killing it yet again on "Albatross"

Finally, it was the moment that Frederictonians had been waiting for, for over two years: beloved East Coast band Wintersleep taking the stage in what would be their triumphant return to the city. The band had been touring internationally since the release of their fourth album, New Inheritors, and while they may have been a little jet lagged early on, they certainly did well at shaking it off.

As Wintersleep took to the stage, the band’s sound tech pumped some ambient noised through the PA system, and they kicked off on the rarely heard/perfectly executed number “Drunk On Aluminum”. The ensuing set was one of well played songs; songs largely taken from New Inheritors and its predecessor, 2007’s Welcome To The Night Sky. Instead of peppering their loyal audience with a bunch of fresh, distant songs, though, the Halifax five-piece actually did an admirable job of mixing in both old and new favourites.

“Experience The Jewel” brought Rah Rah violinist Kristina Hedlund back on stage, and that number led into what was perhaps the highlight of the night. “Preservation” brought and air or sincerity and grace to the performance, and there were many damp eyes throughout the audience. Wintersleep singer Paul Murphy himself seemed enthralled in the emotion of the song, most notably as he crooned the thought provoking lyric: “If that was how you put it and if you ever willed it, I would embroider you in disaffected kisses, in bleach reticent sunsets, in soldered animal glue.” Not only was it genuine in subject matter, but “Preservation” also proved to be the tightest the band played all night.

From there, they were able to masterfully play through rocking instrumentals on two Welcome To The Night Sky favourites. “Laser Beams” proved to have more intense of a build-up than the album version, and “Miasmal Smoke” once again sent a sense of urgent and fervent movement throughout the audience. The guys then left the stage, only to come back and finish the night on “Orca” before vanishing into the November night.

Wintersleep stealing the show...

last night’s noise: music at the market

Rah Rah setting the stage at the Market in Fredericton

Rah Rah (pre confetti explosion)

The Besnard Lakes shredding it up on the Market stage

BL killing it yet again on “Albatross”

Wintersleep stealing the show…

…”Weighty Ghost” and the crowd goes wild

 

last night’s noise: jason collett

In the interests of posting more regularly, (tfc) introduces a new segment here on the blog, called Last Night’s Noise. It’s mandate is to chronicle the Atlantic Canadian concert experience in words or in images.

Jason Collett
The Capital Bar, Fredericton NB
October 22, 2010

It was a chilly autumn night that brought Jason Collett to the Capital in Fredericton, New Brunswick. While the wind was howling and scattering leaves outside, the Ontario native was busy giving the eighty or so guests an intimate hour of storytelling, chuckling, and alt country expertise.

Before Jason took the stage, Attack In Black’s Daniel Romano displayed some expertise of his own. Joined by his brother on snare, Daniel softly strummed in and out of romantic ballads and chanting songs, leaving the crowd swooning and asking for more. Romano played from his debut album Working For The Music Man, with numbers like “Missing Wind” and “On The Banks of Trilliums” making for an enjoyable start to the early evening show.

Then, at around 9:30, the main draw took to the Capital stage. Clad in a worn denim coat and jeans, and with a wool scarf around his neck, and his trademark eccentric hairdo, the Toronto troubadour threw his guitar strap around his neck and delved into an overcoming set of songs – songs quite adept at making one feel weak in the knees.

Despite being solo and suffering from a bit of a cold, Collett was able to make the most of what he had. Though it took him a few songs to get warmed up, the singer definitively hit his stride on “Almost Summer”. Collett opened with a vivid and nostalgic story of smoking a joint with his high school crush, at the last dance before summer ended the school year. He strummed and sang with all he had, and the earnest nature of the tune was perhaps best exemplified on the hauntingly held notes of the closing – the words “high summer” from a loud declaration all the way down to a fading whisper.

When the whisper became silence, it was then time for a couple of new songs. Collett’s witty rhyme and southern drawl straddled the lyrics of “My Daddy Was A Rock N Roller”, before moving onto another fresh ditty with local connections. “Back In Gagetown” turned out to be a brand new song, written out of vivid story of a young couple in love and a soldier from a nearby military base going off to war.

That number flowed into a song about death, called “We All Lost One Another”. The song was a little bit different in it’s solo incarnation; while it made up for the power of a full band, one couldn’t help but wonder if the question at the heart of the title related to Collett’s former band members leaving to form Zeus.

Thankfully, the heavy atmosphere disappeared into the windy night, and the singer brought back some of his youthful energy on “Love Is A Chain” With his black boots tapping gently but surely on the Capital’s hardwood floor, he crooned the Rat A Tat Tat standout, before closing his eyes and letting it flow on another, “Big City”.

Collett then strummed along to one of his most well known tracks, and “I’ll Bring The Sun” seemed to have a sense of urgency. Without the gentle xylophone and harmonies of its album version, the song lacked delicateness, but made up for it with a hardened sense of genuineness and truth. After chanting the title/chorus, Collett set down his guitar, and thanked the crowd for a lovely evening. He disembarked the stage, climbed a nearby staircase, and just like that he was gone. The old brick walls, red curtains, and guitar cases and pedals strewn across the hardwood stage were left like audience members to wonder if it was all a dream.