Spring Forward

Freeplay Duo

Sing! is the inaugural vocal arts festival that was taking place around the Harbourfront area. Choirs, a capella groups, and other vocal-heavy acts were there, along with workshops and seminars. Early Friday night, I caught a free show with, appropriately, Freeplay Duo.

Dylan Bell and Suba Sankaran also sing with other groups, but by themselves they were able to let their vocal expertise soar. Sometimes, it was simply their two voices such as their version of One Note Samba, complete with a South Asian-inspired drum segue. More often they used a looping station to layer on, live and in real-time, percussions, harmonies and other vocal effects for Jazz standards, pop melodies such as Michael Jackson's Butterflies, and their own "World Music" compositions including Sankofa. Granted they were "singing to the choir" (ha!), but the quality of their performance elicited spontaneous cheers and claps during every song. What a shame that more people are not exposed to their talents because their genre is too "niche".

Octoberman

Afterwards, I headed over to the Tranzac Club in the Annex. Founded by Australian ex-pats years ago, this small venue often hosts smaller acts. I only caught the tail end of Del Bel, a sprawling collective of atmospheric pop. It was a CD release for Octoberman, an indie band augmented with violin, trumpet, and sax. Despite the exhortation of the singer, the passive Toronto crowd was even more so than usual, clustering at the back and leaving the entire area in front of the stage empty. They played their entire new CD in order, a collection of melancholic tunes interspersed with a few up-tempo songs. After the wonderful "hoedown" last night and the "can't-help-but-grin" virtuosity of Freeplay, I had a hard time connecting with yet another sad, introspective indie act. On a second listen later, there are deeper intricacies in the new album "Waiting In the Well".