Plainchant

I went on Friday night to another Summerworks Music Series, but instead of the move-your-feet dance of Ark Analog and The Magic, it was the folky plaintive music of Fiver and Evening Hymns. The light was dimmed quite low when I arrived and Fiver was already into their first song. With CBC Radio broadcasting live, the bands had to start early.

Fiver is a solo project of One Hundred Dollars' singer Simone Schmidt. Though the twangy lead guitar accompaniment of Paul Mortimer gave the songs a country feel, it was old country, of long stories and resigned inevitability. Whether singing about her deceased friend in Aaron's Song, the love song Oh Sienna, or a flirty come-on song, a feeling of bemused acceptance permeated her lyrics.

Tonight we find Evening Hymns lead singer, Jonas Bonnetta, shaggy-haired and bearded from 3 months living in a tent, drawing mostly on the elegiac songs off the new record Spectral Dusk (Arrows, Family Tree, You and Jake, Moon River). They dealt with his experience of losing his father 3 years ago. Appropriate to the night, visual artist Sean Frey projected behind the band live collages of branches, animal cut-outs, and human silhouettes. The lyrics were somber and reflective, but taking advantage of a full 7-member band set-up for the night including violin and trumpet, most of the songs slowly layered wave upon wave of instrumentation until there was a cathartic release of sound. There were upbeat tunes, including one that initiated the fall of confetti from the balcony and sparklers flaming on the projection screen. But the encore Spectral Dusk found Jonas alone on stage with his guitar, singing words that summed up the mood of the evening: "Oh, I'm not doing that well./That is just what I tell my friends."

Photos here.