Imaginary Cities - Drake Underground (May 28/13)

Imaginary Cities seemed dreadfully aware of the nearly empty room they were playing to for this essentially unadvertised, free, early, album release party. Opening with the first single from Fall of Romance the band did their best to soldier on, disappointingly utilizing a violin track as they were playing as an ordinary five piece. By the end of this tune many of the back of the room dwellers had sauntered up to become mid room dwellers (this is Toronto after all) and whoop their appreciation for Chasing the Sunset. From here the band confided in us about being nervous about playing songs for the first time live, and the first time ever with their new bass player, but this didn't detract from the performance. The room seemed to be filling in (relatively) as they polished off the acoustic album opener, All the Time. With that out of the way the rest of the set was a breeze as Marti's vocals hit the spot and played off or with Rusty's throughout the performance - even when he sang the role of Ewan from The Sheepdogs on Who's Watching You. The only Temporary Resident was a clear and confident version of Hummingbird which was appreciated by the crowd. Seeing as there was a time limit on the stage they told us to pretend the final tune was their encore and they played the album closer. As a first taste of the new record it was a small, yet sweet nibble.