Winnipeg-based Yes We Mystic and Ottawa-based Pony Girl played for a group of about 40 fans on Sept. 4 hosted by Raw Sugar Cafe.
Missing two of their six members didn’t put a damper on Pony Girl’s highly captivating and emotional performance, featuring vocals by Pascal Duot and Yolande Laroche as well as a unique and effective incorporation of clarinet, played by Laroche as well.
The proximity of the performers to the audience, albeit more of a practical choice than an artistic one, served to increase the intensity of the performances and added an intimacy rarely found in concerts even half the size of theirs.
“People were really close to us, which was different. Usually there’s a gate or a couple feet, so I guess I was a bit nervous . . . I was excited,” Duot said after the show.
Pony Girl played a few singles off of their upcoming album, Foreign Lives, which comes out in November, among some of their other pieces. The new songs, including the single “Candy,” that can be found on Youtube, were among the standout pieces of the night.
What was interesting about these new songs was their strong attention to detail, which is a result of the band’s decision to bring Montreal native Denis Martin onto the project.
“He’s doing his PhD in acoustics . . . that’s his field of interest. It’s pretty interesting to work with someone who is a doctor in sound, definitely a way different approach,” said Duot about the process of producing the album with Martin.
After Pony Girl finished onstage, Yes We Mystic played a full set with a wide emotional range, flowing seamlessly between moments of high and low intensity. Some of the most energy-filled moments throughout the night were the fiery violin solos by Solana Johansson punctuated by what seemed to be almost comedic timing.
“I like the kind of musical humour that they had with the violin, where they’d have a break with all the energy and let the violin kind of do its thing. It was a nice way to make it interesting,” said fan Nicole Hazel, who attended the concert.
It was clear that despite being over one and a half thousand kilometres away from their hometown, they were completely at home on stage and deftly commanded the crowd’s attention.
One of the best things about the performance was the incredible sense of community coming from both the band and the audience throughout the night. The crowd all arrived separately but talked together like old friends. The bands invited everyone to come and talk to them after the show and mingled with everyone else whatever chance they could get.
“Most musicians that I really respect and really, really look up to are in my community, and every time I see them, I’m completely floored and inspired at the same time,” Duot said after the show.
It is this sense of kindness and mutual respect that made the performance, and Ottawa’s local indie rock scene as a whole, so great.
