Timber Timbre at the Music Gallery; Thursday February 12, 2009

Timber Timbre at the Music Gallery; Thursday February 12, 2009.

Wavelength is something i've never consciously attended, well using that title. I've been to two Wavelength events looking back at it now, this is my third! For those of you who don't know (and can't use google) Wavelength is a weekly event at Sneaky Dee's every Sunday. They host mostly local Toronto artists... This is their ninth year in the game, good on them! There was an MC for the night, he was an absolute wingnut i can only assume that he's the promoter... There were two bands that opened... I arrived quite early—around 8:30pm! The doors were at 7:00pm so i booked it from my class that ended at 8:00pm. The place was packed, we didn't even get a seat until the first set was through. This show was at the Music Gallery which is a nice name for the church slightly north of Queen Street, just up John Street, in OCAD land. The openers were Dorit Chrysler and Ghost Bees, two bands my friend really dug but i really found be bore... Dorit Chrysler is a very avant-garde musician. She's from New York, so it was a big catch for her to do Wavelength. She simply sings and plays the theremin. The theremin, which took some online research for me to understand after the show... Is an instrument that uses two metal antennas that sense the movement of the players hands. On one hand more challenging the movement controls the frequency and the other controls the volume. This sounds difficult but it makes an eerie sound that you've heard in old sci-fi films... Think back to the film 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'. She sings and plays to recorded music that seems so much classier than her own created music... I wondered if she herself had made the recorded material. She has a very Beach House-Victoria Legrand sounding voice, deep powerful and encompassing, with the same bore. My friend compared her to Goldfrapp, but i'm not one to make that decision. I really dug the instrument, i didn't even know what it was until this very moment!Ghost Bee's were cute, they were wearing matching outfits that made them sort of look like little Eskimos. These two girls are from Halifax and Wavelength dubs them telepathic trip-folk... I can't stress how much i hate sub-genres. I found them incredibly boring... their saving grace was that they were cute, and being two of them they were that much cuter. They brought another person on the stage in a Christmas tree costume with two feathers—by the end of the set the tree person lifted the feathers a bit and left the stage with them when the left, shoddy job. In short, they are probably the Canadian girl contenders to Sub Pop heavy weights Fleet Foxes, except not worth all the hype. Their voices ached more, and were less delicate, they sort of gave off a more yodel than they did singing. I highly give them points for using a mandolin, innovative lyrics and really great guitar parts. Ever since i saw Okkervil River back in November i've had this thing for the mandolin!! (please check out “Westfall” by Okkervil River off of the album 'Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See'). I finally saw Timber Timbre. He's Toronto's best new comer gem. He actually has an album from before called 'Medicinals' which is equally as good but this one really has come a long way! In success and musically, this was it's 'Release Party' even though i've owned it for nearly a month. Taylor Kirk is Timber Timbre—he played with two other people. A violinist and a lap guitarist, both very innovative musicians. The thing about Timber Timbre is he's so simple, so simple that his live show really reflects that, but it is also so busy too. In that because his get up is so bare he really has to put a lot of thought into the different things each musician can do. In a sense he reminded me bundles of Bon Iver, the first time I saw them opening for Black Mountain. Vernon had a very stripped sound but his guitarist was doing six things at once. I kept thinking at that show how much he strikes me as Canada's response to Bon Iver... or maybe just Toronto's, even though he sounds absolutely nothing like him! He sounds a great deal like M. Ward to me... In that he has mastered the bluesy sad sound but effortlessly through simple ditties. His set was great, as i anticipated he played his entire new album...! With two older songs. My favourite part was hearing “Demon Host”, i was incredibly happy that he called more people on the stage to sing with him. It was beautiful, especially at the last bit of the song with the “oooh-ing”. It's something i can't really articulate here without the song partnering this note! BUT he did a recent stripped live gig at the Soundscapes and he only played with the violinist and his conclusion to this song was so empty, as he did it alone! I really hope in the near future i can hear him sing this song with a piano player like the recorded version. There's something really eerie and magical about the version on the album! I really also loved hearing “We'll Find Out” which was my favourite song upon first listen. I was really tired this whole show. I can't believe i went, but i really needed to hear my soundtrack to the month of January live.

February 14, 2009