Lowell - AGO First Thursday (Mar 5/15)

The drummer was in place, the guitarist tweaking the laptop in anticipation of the arrival of the lady of the hour.. Lowell snaked through the crowd with white lights draped along her silhouette on her way to appearing on stage with a smile, a semi-transparent white sweater and some horrid pink-eye boxer shorts. Banter was kept to a minimum making for longish breaks between songs and the little interaction that did happen was awkward and forced. (And I like Lowell.) The opener about The Shit We Do For Love was new as was the next tune; both seem to have taken the gloss off for a slightly edgier sound than the majority of We Loved Her Dearly, with beats bordering on bangers. These new songs worked and she sang them earnestly which couldn't quite be said of the core of the set. Something to do with the spaced-out, all-things-are-magical persona detracted from the presentation of 'hits' - The Bells, Money - especially her careless voice cracking. Even on Palm Trees and Cloud 69 I was thrown, though it may have been the underaged kids who had snuck in front of us (therefore directly in front of Lowell) and appeared to be taking advantage of the alcoholic experience. Funnily enough on the finale, written this week, she appeared more sincere than the previously well-worn tunes and though it wasn't the poppiest number it translated well. I implore Lowell to stick with the skills that brought her this far and lessen the cultivation of this image.

Basement Revue - Adelaide Hall (Dec 19/2013)

Note that this is from December 2013 but the excellently written draft was accidentally deleted and the drive to rewrite significantly waned. Memory may be a little fuzzy.

The big Basement Revue for this year fell short and it is hard to say exactly why though in all likelihood it was a combination. Firstly there were the expectations based on last year's Great Hall gig (Feist, Hayden, Snowblink, Aroara) which curator Jason Collett mentioned during his intro but seemed confident he would match. Then there was the change of venue which couldn't have been helped due to fire code capacity reduction at the original Great Hall but my first experience of Adelaide Hall left a lot to be desired. Firstly they force you to enter upstairs and then (since it's sold out and only the rail row can see from above) wind your way down a staircase plopping you literally backstage then up past a narrow avenue by the bar only to be stuck peering around poles or speakers. Speaking of the bar - no draft and just mediocre can selection! 

Back to the show though - after Collett's introductory tune it started well enough with two beloved Toronto acts sharing the stage. Margaret Atwood read while the Sadies strummed their instruments in the background. Her stories were rather interesting, especially the one where a bear gave up his name 'bear' and everything went backwards, unraveling as it went.

Up next was Rae Spoon who I really do enjoy. It was a solo performance which meant it was a bit sparse, especially for the large crowd packed in with high expectations but an artist I've enjoyed for a long time so it was great to get a chance to witness the performance live. Love is a Hunter was a notable tune.

Tabitha, a poet of sorts with iconic hair, then came on and told a few stories including an interesting one about how a limp.

Following this was a performance by the Guerilla Girls that is difficult to pin down. Essentially it was women with gorilla heads on dancing around with a distinct feminist feel from the words and video being shown. At first I thought it was a wardrobe malfunction that had them naked but by the end they were naked of their own accord. Odd but pushing the envelope.

Lowell was an artist I'd never heard of before but was introduced as a new addition to the Arts and Crafts label which carries some clout. Fronting a couple guys primarily making the music it the made slightly electo-pop which was catchy and sounded really good immediately as she sang and performed, giving hints of early Grimes.

Aroara were next in line which was a bit of a rehash of last year however if last year was their coming out show, after mild success all year this should have been a celebration. Unfortunately they were paired with a feminist poet who did spoken word. There was some underlying project I no longer remember but essentially this lady droned on for a terribly long time and even Aroara couldn't prop it up. Mind you Ariel and Andrew seemed to be very into it but I definitely wasn't.

To cap the night off should have been a hugely fun party with all that pent up energy from frankly a low-key event to this point and perhaps that was why Light Fires did receive a big response. A big response considering Gentlelady Regina is a standard in the Toronto scene, playing fairly regularly and hence not exactly being a huge cameo surprise. She can really strut it in those heels and belted it out while doing it which was entertaining no doubt but still somewhat underwhelming for what should have been a climax of an overall dull evening.

Lowell - Supercrawl (Sep 12)

Being the lead off band at a street festival that has barely begun isn't the easiest slot but Lowell didn't seem phased. In fact the leading lady could be spotted smiling and smirking throughout her perky pop set in front of her backing fellas. The first tune layered the vocals on and moved slow but sounded lovely before they laid down the pop. Dancing in bare feet Lowell sang out Cloud 69 and then her first single from the released-next-week We Loved Her Dearly, The Bells, a bright song like her hot pink backwards hat that saw her both laying on the stage and emitting her signature screech. Hitting on the live go-tos she carried on with I Love You Money, a cheeky tune to match her cheek decorations. Bidding Summer goodbye on this fresh evening in song brought us to the clap along of Palm Trees before finishing out with the only tune not from next week's release - Kids - another live fave that had the leading lady climb down off the stage, up over the barrier and wrapping her arms around front row fans.

Field Trip '14 - Lowell - Fort York (June 7)

Hard not to draw a comparison to Grimes, with the young Canadian girl singing along to slightly synthy music. She had some male cohorts producing the sound while she danced awkwardly around. I do like the music and I do enjoy the shows but it's a bit funny. She kept her radio single (well it's getting the odd play on local Indie 88) for last and lurched the stage to The Bells. A reasonably-sized hometown crowd cheered it all on.