I feel conflicted about Coeur de Pirate. The Quebec band delivered a set so riskless and vanilla, that it’s hard to find anything explicitly bad to say about them, but by the end I was tapping my toe in impatience rather than to the time of the music.
The group revolves around singer-songwriter Béatrice Martin, who has such massive stage presence that I had to constantly remind myself there was a whole band on stage. Martin would smile and wave offstage at her earplug-adorned child and sway to the music, but this adorable act wound up being more interesting than the music.
Falling somewhere between X & Y era Coldplay and 50s girl-group, Coeur de Pirate’s songs were forgettable on every level. The band was technically capable, no musician hit a sour note, but their sound was well within the safety zone of “independent rock,” and the result was predictable and bland.
Luckily, The War on Drugs’ set followed. Of the handful of acts I saw at Folk Fest, The War on Drugs delivered the best performance by far. The band looked comfortable on the stage, and their sound reflected it. Bros, moms, dads, and indie kids all seemed to find common ground, head nodding and dancing as the folk-rock act played.
The band largely played cuts off their recent Lost in the Dream album, and delivered them at studio quality. The keyboards, guitars, and saxophone all melted into a wall of uplifting ambience and chords.
Frontman Adam Gruciel’s touring experience was evident as he commanded the stage. Although he appeared somewhat stiff as he walked out and picked up his guitar, confidence shone through in his performance, as he drawled and shouted his lyrics and tore through guitar solos without a misstep.
Many of The War on Drugs’ songs rely on verse-chorus-verse songwriting and screaming guitar solos, but the act does this usually stale formula well by adding world-weary lyrics and a musical backdrop informed by ambient, krautrock, and shoegaze.
The combination is beautiful, echoing Springsteen, My Bloody Valentine, and Brian Eno but never sounding like a photocopy of any.
Jaws were left hanging after every song, and despite our knowledge of Folk Fest’s rigid schedule, the audience was immediately chanting for an encore after the band’s hour had expired.
