Ted Leo & The Pharmacists @ Il Motore June 22, 2010

I had been waiting for New Jersey alternative punk-rock band Ted Leo & The Pharmacists to come to Montreal for years now, so their time spent felt only too short. Realizing after the show that they did play nineteen songs, I discovered that enjoying their show removed me from time entirely and placed me simply in the sensation of enjoying Ted Leo & The Pharmacists live.

Although performing from the far left corner of Il Motore’s stage slightly separated from his audience, Ted Leo gave a performance full of energy. With greater speed given to his songs live than found in his recorded material, Ted grew sweaty as the audience attempted to keep up with their clapping. Something I did not expect, however, was a rather sedate audience. Other than the ten or so who began a miniature mosh pit as soon as “Me and Mia”, a fan favourite began, the crowd remained tranquil. Ted spoke with the crowd in between songs. Most impressively, he did most of this in French. He expressed his gratitude towards the opening band Screaming Females, a band also from New Jersey, but there was still something that gave me the impression that he was not totally psyched to be there.

Performed were eight songs from his most recent album “The Brutalist Bricks”. The bands’ new songs are just as solid as their older material. Like all Ted albums, “The Brutalist Bricks” starts with a bang-“The Mighty Sparrow”. “The Mighty Sparrow” was played near the beginning of their Montreal set list. Also played was one song from “The Tyranny of Distance” (2001), two songs from “Hearts of Oak” (2003), and four from “Shake the Sheets” (2004). The crowd was able to rally up some energy to herald an encore, although with their general lack of enthusiasm I’m surprised Ted even gave one at all. Returning to the stage with a fresh shirt, which read “Happy 400th Quebec!” Ted performed a new song solo. Look out for a new one with the words “Live as if I could…” in it. Continuing in solo, he covered a Nick Lowe song, “So It Goes”. The final song “Timorous Me” began with just Ted. The entire band (Chris Wilson on drums, Marty Key on bass, and James Canty on guitar) joined him for the last half of this upbeat song to close the night.

While I can’t comprehend the sleepy feel of most of the audience on this night, Ted delivered a performance as energetic as you would expect from listening to his recordings and proved that the new album is worth attention for old and new fans alike.

Ted Leo and The Pharmacists are touring through the US and Canada now. See their MySpace for tour details: http://www.myspace.com/tedleo

Screaming Females on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/screamingfemales

The Thanya, Emilie & Ali Band + Horses Vanish @ Le Divan Orange, June 16, 2010

As the relentless rain poured a river down on St. Laurent Boulevard last night, the soft sounds, laughter and chatter of The Thanya, Emilie & Ali Band began an evening of music at Le Divan Orange. These three Vanier College students formed in 2008 and they have since been experimenting with various instrumentations in their performance. The girls use an upright bass, a flute, piano, guitar and a violin to accompany their vocal harmonies. The girls switched between instruments throughout their show. The bands’ lead singer, Emilie Kahn, has also performed in Montreal’s Darling Ghost. Her vocals resemble a mash-up of Montreal’s Caroline Keating and the UK’s Sophie Madeleine. The girls began their set with their own rendition of The White Stripes’ “Seventh Nation Army”, which blended into “You Are My Sunshine.” Their own songs sway between harmonies and spoken word tales about their youthful experiences with boys and love. The girls played their ‘Shoe Song,’ which they say is “actually a metaphor for understanding others.” Most of their dialogue is followed by laughter between the girls and amongst the audience. ‘Shoe song ‘ reflects their youth, as they quote a popular Youtube video of 2006/2007 (?) from The Liam Show entitled, “Shoes.” They performed a song about missing one another while one vacationed in India. This song aims to capture the “weird tuning” of a violin one of the girls heard while there. The girls’ set became even more eclectic in their lyrical themes and instrumentation alike-they moved into a beat-box lullaby. These vibrant young girls are not going unnoticed by Montrealers- much of the audience seemed to be in attendance to see them.

The following band, Montreal’s Horses Vanish, brought with them a similar theme of orchestration. Horse Vanish is made up of two musicians who play the flute, piano, cello, mandolin and acoustic guitar. Instead of their beautiful songs conveying feelings of youthful sweetness as found in The Thanya, Emilie & Ali Band, Horses Vanish brings feelings of darkness and mystique in their chamberal music. The male and female vocals harmonized throughout, often trading off between each other. Consequently, they described many of their songs as those of dialogue and conversation. Their song about a fourteen year-old was my favourite. He sang, “I got you a Barbie, you act like you’re fourteen.” Her answer complimented his words with an echo of, “I’m fourteen.” They continued to converse in song with a cover of The Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights.” Later, a song in French! There is something about the frequent strumming of the mandolin, the wavering vocals, and the tambourine in the recorded materials of Horses Vanish that resembles The Dutchess and The Duke. (Ps-The Dutchess and The Duke join The Dodos in opening for The New Pornographers tonight at Le National!) This attractive folk style that bares dark undertones certainly makes Horses Vanish a band I hope to hear more from.

The Thanya, Emilie & Ali Band on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thanyaemilieali
Darling Ghost on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/darlinghost
Caroline Keating on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/carolinekeating
Sophie Madeleine on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/sophiemadeleine
The White Stripes on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thewhitestripes
Horses Vanish on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/horsesvanish
The Postal Service on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thepostalservice
The Dutchess And The Duke on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thedutchessandtheduke
The Dodos on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thedodos
The New Pornographers on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thenewpornographers

Lost In The Trees @ Le Divan Orange, June 13 2010

North Carolina musicians, Lost In The Trees, played their first Canadian show last night in Montreal’s Divan Orange. Feeling that nothing is like a band with orchestral music live, I was bound for their free show. Seven musicians, nearly all playing more than one instrument throughout the night, filled the stage. I was sold after their first two songs-an effect of having been left in complete awe that I have not felt since first seeing Montreal’s Sweet Mother Logic. Lost In The Trees plays music that envelops both classical and folk music. The orchestration of their music sounds as if it could have been written for a movie soundtrack, one with suspense, placed in medieval times.

Their instrumentation included two cellos, a violin, an accordion, a French horn, a xylophone, an Autoharp, an acoustic 12-string guitar, drums, a tuba, a bass, and an electric guitar. This instrumentation varies even more on their 2010 album “All Alone In An Empty House.” The crescendo’s that were featured in nearly every song enticed their audience, a full crowd at the Divan Orange. Lost In The Trees musicians were very grateful to their appreciating crowd, and began telling stories of their first day in Canada together as a band. They noted their experience of feeding a squirrel out of their hand earlier that day on the mountain. In addition to their remarkable tightness as a band, they are endearing. As the musician playing the 12-string guitar took the centre stage as the singer, fellow accordion/xylophone/drum/Autoharp/French horn musician accompanied him with vocals. The female voice echoing ‘oooh lalala’s’ behind the male’s gentle folk songs produced an unparalleled effect. I felt convinced that I was hearing her voice through the nave of a large and archaic stone church. With music like theirs and lyrics such as, “Sometimes all it takes is a walk around the lake,” Lost In The Trees creates feelings of suspense and tranquility alike.

I am ready to say that Lost In The Trees is quite possibly my favourite act I’ve seen all year. The crowd seemed to be in agreement. Heralding the most encores I’ve seen since Daniel Johnston’s October performance in Montreal, the Divan Orange listeners kept on clapping and cheering for more. I think there were four encores, but I sort of lost track. I got lost in the post-show acoustic serenading that was the encore. All the musicians climbed off the stage and into a space hollowed out by the audience to play a quiet song. The set-up changed with each new encore, the second pairing down to the 12-string guitar and xylophone. All the musicians returned for another song, where they had the Divan Orange crowd sing with them. Many spectators at first shy joined, a wave of voices filling the room. The final encore featured one musician with the 12-string guitar and another with the electric guitar. Together they performed a bluegrass song.

Lost In The Trees tickled the collective nervous system of their audience last night, giving us chills and beautiful CD’s for our ten dollars. It is an impossible task to sum up their majestic qualities, so do give them your listen:

Lost In The Trees on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lostinthetrees