JUNO award-winners Wintersleep proved to be a major highlight. A densely-packed audience near the stage seemed receptive to the band’s moody, introverted indie rock.
Wintersleep mostly filled their set with songs from this year’s Hello Hum. Before the show, it was tough to tell how songs from the album would turn out live. Tracks like album opener “Hum” have a dense, layered sound to them that wouldn’t seem to translate well to a stage.
Thankfully, Wintersleep was up to the task. The five-piece cranked out a set that was raw and noisy, but always to the songs’ benefit. Guitarist Tim D’eon and multi-instrumentalist Jon Samuel gave Hello Hum tracks like “In Came the Flood” a bristling, full-bodied sound. Drummer Loel Campbell and bassist Mike Bigelow somehow made the rhythms on “Nothing is Anything (Without You)” sound even huger than on the recorded version.
This left vocalist Paul Murphy to sing, tap a tambourine and even strum a guitar on the odd song. While his voice is a bit nasal, it suits his dark, sometimes morose lyrics. Murphy’s voice never cracked or broke, and he seemed to hit his notes effortlessly. His loose, sometimes sheepish stage presence was enjoyable, and he seemed genuinely grateful to be on the stage.
The band also sprinkled in tracks from 2007’s Welcome to the Night Sky. They filled out older songs like “Weighty Ghost” with loud, sometimes heavily distorted electric guitars. Wintersleep also extended songs like “Laser Beams” or “Miasmal Smoke and the Yellow Bellied Freaks” into climactic jams. It made for a lively set from a band that often focuses on the dour and dreary.
The Balconies, meanwhile, were as far from dour as possible. Originally from Ottawa, they had the crowd dancing along with singer/guitarist Jacquie Neville as the band powered through their pop-inflected rock.
Neville had a powerhouse voice to match her twitchy, hip-shaking stage presence. She hit the chorus on “300 Pages” with aplomb, and her fun vocal turn on the verses of “Serious Bedtime” gave the crowd a good reason to cheer. Her enthusiasm was fun to watch, but it threatened to overshadow her more restrained band mates.
It was hard to notice Neville’s brother, Stephen, who handled bass duties, whenever Jacquie took the lead. Luckily, Stephen peeked out from his long curtain of bangs to grab the spotlight few times. On songs like “Lulu,” he drove forward with bouncing basslines, and when his turns behind the mike came, he seized on them. Drummer Liam Jaeger’s playing was solid, but with the two siblings front and centre, it was sometimes easy to overlook him.
Still, the band was clearly thrilled to be in front of a hometown crowd. Their playing was impeccable, and if the new songs they played turn out as good as the live versions, they’ll have another fine album on their hands.
