Throwback Thursday

After several years of hearing Maylee Todd's retro-funk style songs, she finally released her sophomore album, Escapology. The release party took place Thursday at The Blk Box, the underground venue at The Great Hall.

Without openers, the sold-out crowd milled around for most of the evening. Although Harrison gave us some live mixing, and Alanna of Bonjay did a DJ set, it was a restless group. The late night start would have been all right with a fuller bill, but it seemed misplaced with only 1 performance. In fact, a few people left after 1 song, when Maylee finally came on around midnight.

After an effusive introduction by her room-mate, a comedienne dressed in a tight sparkling number and decorated with coloured beads on her face (fa-jazzling?), Todd bounded up on stage. She wore a glimmering dress with diaphaneous cape-like wings designed by her sister Leilanni, a Toronto fashion designer. The set began with the wistful Successive Mutations, with just her on the harp. With 4 slow numbers to start seemed risky as the audience was appreciative but didn't seem fully engaged. But after I Can't Stand It, they cheered upon hearing Baby's Got It, the first single from Escapology. Complete with dancers and choreography, the set proceeded with wall-to-wall dancing until the closing Do You Know What It Is.

The encore was a 20-minute set featuring all covers of classics including Pointer Sisters' Pinball Number Count, Hall and Oates' I Can't Go For That (No Can Do), and Isley Brothers' I Got Work To Do. A Soul Train dance line made an appearance after some encouragement from Maylee.

The evening was a smashing success. One minor issue was the slightly anemic sound. This was surprising as during the DJ sets, the speakers were powerful enough to vibrate your body from feet to chest. The mix was also a bit unbalanced and some of the finer touches were inaudible.