Seeing Bishop Allen, Electric Owls and An Horse last night reminded me of how much I like seeing shows at The Cinemat.
I hadn't been to the venue in a while, and wasn't aware of the renovations they had done. The torn down walls made the room more spacious and ventilated, while still maintaining intimacy.
Electric Owls started off the concert with a sonically simplistic and folksy set. I expected to see a full band gracing the stage, but there was only one guy. His name was Andy and he used an acoustic guitar and a laptop to produce his sound.
Andy's songs were novelesque and his stage presence was positive, despite the bit of technical difficulties he and the other bands endured. Apparently, the musicians were having trouble hearing the sound on stage, and Andy had to start one song over a couple of times. It wasn't detrimental to his set though.
An Horse played next and I felt an instant connection with them before they even took the stage. They're from Brisbane, AUS, which is a place I've actually been to a few times. My Aunt lives there, and I would really like to go back sometime soon.
Besides being from such a beautiful and charming city, An Horse had great sound and even better dynamics. The chick was the main vocalist and when she started to talk for too long, the drummer would cut her off by playing his instrument. The mood was very light-hearted and humorous.
An Horse was mostly up beat, but they played one slower song, which ended up being my favorite of the night. This was probably due to the fact that the guy played the melodica; I absolutely love that instrument.
All the bands had the choice of choosing a movie to play on the screen that was behind them, and they chose Pumping Iron, a movie featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Naturally, jokes about the beefy governor ensued, but let's be honest: those kinds of jokes never get old.
Bishop Allen took the stage quickly afterwards and opened with a song off their upcoming album, which is tentatively titled Grrr...
Justin Rice put it well in my interview with him by explaining that new songs don't always register 100 percent to listeners. This is true at least for me because I'm usually a bit disappointed when I don't know the music. However, the new songs that they played were quite catchy. The third song they played, "Ancient Common Sense of Things" was even one of my favorites despite my unfamiliarity with it. One line in particular really struck me: "my heart is pounding/ loud like a timpani".
They also played some "classics" such as "Click, Click, Click, Click" and "Like Castanets", which were raw and wonderful.
While a lot of their songs seemed stripped-down, their overall sound was polished. The band was full of exuberance and the look in Justin Rice's eyes was not something you'd expect from someone who accidentally became a musician.
In my interview with Rice, he explained that he originally wanted to be an English or Philosophy professor, but that it just kind of lost its shine halfway through his time at Harvard. It seems to be the right decision because for some reason I just can't imagine him getting so excited over teaching at a university.
As the fall season fades into my memory, I realize that there is now something to look forward to besides Christmas this winter: the release of Bishop Allen's third full-length album, Grrr.... It comes out March 10th and if they were as zealous about making the album as they were playing on stage, I don't think I'll be disappointed.
Hurray for them. It was a really cute concert.
Cheers,
Katie
P.S: For more info on Bishop Allen you can read my preview for the IDS here.
*All Bishop Allen photos are courtesy of Nate Delong.
