Said The Whale - Little Mountain (Year-End Album Review)

A preview of my forthcoming annual, year-end, favourite albums post. Below is an album that is definitely under consideration - time will tell where it ends up on, or off, the final list.

Said the Whale - Little Mountain

Little Mountains is an early 2012 release from the west coast that definitely caught my ear. There are a number of standouts on this album right off the top - Jesse, AR, We Are 1980, Loveless.  However repeated listens had these tunes set themselves apart but rarely did I go deep into the fifteen track affair. With 50% more songs than your standard indie album you'd think and hope to simply get more for your $9.99, when in fact the latter half seems slightly washed out, detracting from the full album's strength rather than adding to it. A solid effort with some absolutely worthwhile works but not worthy of end of year raving.

Feel free to check out last year's list or my Top Albums lists dating back to 2002 on my previous Vernacular blog.

Tokyo Police Club, Born Ruffians, Said the Whale (Phoenix, Dec 9)

Off to an early start at the Phoenix, Said the Whale kicked off the night with their lovable indie pop. Fortunate to have two distinctly great leading vocalists (and presumably songwriters) Ben and Tyler traded back and forth alongside their bass player and female on keys. On this night their happy-go-lucky drummer really stood out, first grabbing attention through his drumstick twirling work on Sleep Through Fire as he used both the regular hard tip and the cushioned soft tip interchangeably for different effects. Despite running through a string of solid songs including recent single Lines through The Gift of a Black Heart, The Light is You, and the magical Camilo, the set never quite caught fire. This may have been the early slot, or the pent up anticipation for sets to come, or perhaps just the band itself. Regardless many in the crowd enjoyed the closing Goodnight Moon, even if it wasn’t accompanied by its album companion Holly, Ontario.


Fronted by Luke and his wonderfully controlled voice the Born Ruffians were back in Toronto and ready to let loose. Adorned in terribly hideous Christmas sweaters for the occasion they rocked through Retard Canard including a badass bass solo from the man with the presence – and the hair. The boys have been tweeting about new material they’ve been writing so it was a nice glimpse at a song about “dancing on the edge of a grave” even if the song never seemed to fully take off and go anywhere. There were classics tossed in too, though these were often at least partially remodeled into new sounds, such as Foxes Mate for Life and What To Say. Hummingbird had a new intro but retained the shout-along “fly away little hummingbird.” Before the finale they included another freshly minted song (Sex 5000? Probably misheard lyrics..) which was also rather slow and shows that the band seems to be continuing their downward spiral that has been happening since their first frenetic self-titled EP release. A shame I say, both for the records and the live show, however slamming out I Need A Life in the fleeting moments showed what they’re still capable of. 


Tokyo Police Club curated the night and did a heckuva job with the bill but then were faced with the daunting task of headlining it – meaning they’d better bring it. Out onto the festive stage, complete with gift-wrapped amps and decorated Christmas trees, they trotted, also sporting ugly sweaters, to try to do just that with Favourite Colour off the top. From the get-go it was a love-in on this the second of three sold out nights. The group ran through a laundry list of hits from their catchy albums and even crammed in a new track (“top of the stairs”). Not only that but they included the Kelly Clarkson chart-smasher that they recently covered for their 10X10X10 series, Since U Been Gone, and not surprisingly it went over quite well as two guitarists slid together on their knees mid-song. The biggest reaction must have been when the Phoenix became very un-desert-like and it began to snow upon us. Ending the set strong was Breakneck Speed, Wait Up and finally Your English is Good however it was the festive encore that did us all in. An obviously rehearsed, but still wholly welcomed, rendition of Santa Claus is Coming To Town shut down the night as Born Ruffians, Said the Whale, members of the Elwins and others (numbering 15+ in all) streamed out to partake in the joyous send-off. It was Graham Wright rocking the sax that really made it. Welcome to the Christmas season! (Does an annual tradition await?) Notes: TPC, wrapped amps. Colour. Nature. Liar like me. Happy belated. New, top of the stairs. Spark. Shell. Tess. Slow, hands. Snow. Blast. Since U, double guitar kneel. Breakneck. Wait Up. English, last. Plaster. TPC. Santa Coming, 15 plus, Graham sax, elwin, see green.

Said the Whale, Sarah Lowe (Mod Club, Sept 8 '11)

Said the Whale had a darn near full house for their Mod Club gig and looked pretty happy about it. The dual lead male vocals are a huge advantage for the 5 piece, and their female keyboardist rounds them out nicely. Hopefully not a smug reflection on Toronto from this Vancouver band, they opened with This City's a Mess before a non-album cut in Love is Art. Actually there would prove to be a great deal of unfamiliar songs played as they debuted a large number of new songs from an as-yet unreleased album. (From my perspective, having never seen them before, I would argue a few too many bumping my favourite Out on the Shield.) The new stuff sounded decent, with some clap-alongs and sing-alongs (if only for repetition). However there was a standout from the bearded and chapeau-ed singer, whom I prefer, in the very uniquely paced Hurricane Aida. Otherwise it was great to hear Camillo, and dance to The Light is You. They also did the quieter Holly, Ontario, Black Day in December, Emerald Lake, AB, and False Creek Change amongst others. In finale was the appropriate Goodnight Moon that starts slow and sweet but saw the backing crew from Hollerado crash the stage for the closing clashes.

For their encore they asked to play two new songs and who were we to say no? Following these we were asked to stay real quiet for a somewhat uncommon live version of Curse of the Currents. It is quite the song and even though the rumble from the downstairs club was impossible to fully ignore it still carried great weight and was a stirring ending to a complete show.

Rah Rah did a helluva job opening too.

Sarah Lowe opened with just herself and a piano (okay, keyboard tuned to piano). You have to cut her slack for not hauling a piano from Manchester, and the Toronto crowd, as we're apt to do, did do just that and welcomed her warmly. The show was somewhat lackluster as the majority of solo performances are, and it didn't help that she kept telling us to imagine the six musicians that normally fill it out. Despite this her voice is rather lovely and the songs nice enough.