A wave of Canadian musicians from Montreal hit NYC like a tsunami last Saturday night, playing the Bowery Ballroom for a packed house. Little Scream, Suuns, and Land of Talk brought three very distinct styles to the iconic venue at Bowery and Delancey streets.
It seems that New Yorkers love anything that comes from Montreal. There have been a string of Poutine restaurants opening over the last few years, and even a smoked meat sandwich shop appropriately titled “Mile End.” With the recent influx of great music that city has produced over the last ten years (Arcade Fire, The Stills, Chromeo, etc), the NY blogosphere has been quick to promote our Northern neighbours (note the added “u” for Canada’s sake).
Little Scream aka Laurel Sprengelmeyer is a singer-songwriter who usually plays solo on an electric guitar, using a mix of looped music with an endless amount of effects pedals. There may be heavy reverb on guitar, yet she’ll mesmerize you with her soothing voice and wide vocal range. You’ll hear influences from folk to classical to good old rock ‘n’ roll. I love the heavy riffs and foot stomping of “Red Hunting Jacket.” The crowd was hushed and totally captivated for the song “People Is Place.” LS was overcome with emotion just before she played her ballad “The Heron and the Fox,” which isn’t performed live too often, and it was a treat to the many familiar faces in the crowd who came out to support her largest concert to date in the Big Apple. Her debut album The Golden Record (co-produced by Richard Reed Parry of The Arcade Fire and Belle Orchestre) is available in limited release at her live shows. Do yourself a favor and pick it up in March when it officially comes out, although there is a chance that you’ll see it on her site before next spring.
Suuns (pronounced Soons and signed to Secretly Canadian) are a heavy electro rock group with lots of noise (but the good noise). The band was just in NYC for several CMJ performances, and I know fans were happy to see them back. They are masters of jamming on a single note or chord over and over again, then launching into a high-pitched guitar solo, with an ongoing electro beat in the background, and heavy drums to round it all out. Good examples are the songs “Sweet Nothing” and “Arena” with their catchy beats. On “Pie IX” I swear lead singer Ben Shemie was singing 2-1-2, the NYC area code over and over again, even though it could have been “Toronto?” For their last song, Suuns were joined onstage by Land of Talk front-woman Lizzie Powell, who rocked the bass during “Arena” to finish up their set.
The crowd was packed in when Land of Talk took to the stage. Lizzie walked on wearing a tight sparkly white dress, which matched her Gibson SG guitar, and was for the “special occasion of playing the Bowery Ballroom,” the largest venue to date for the band after countless gigs at the Mercury Lounge. The first song featured members of Suuns so it was a nice transition, and bassist Joseph Yarmush stayed on for the rest of the set as he plays in both bands. The group played indie rock with catchy melodies and Lizzie’s voice reminded me a lot of Liz Phair’s. She played a mix of songs from her most recent record Cloak and Cipher (Saddle Creek Records), including “Swift Coin,” “Quarry Hymns” and “Color Me Badd.” I was happy to hear older songs such as “Some Are Lakes” the title track from her 2008 release.
There is one thing for sure, Little Scream, Suuns and Land of Talk are a great line up for a night of music. In addition to New York, all three bands played together in Portland, Boston, Philadelphia, and their last stop was in Washington, DC. Please come back to New York again.
