Thought and Pop

Thursday night was the album release party (Bound) for Kashka, barely a year after putting out their first (which came on cassette). After Kat Burns' disbanded dreamy Forest City Lovers, she was looking musically in a new direction. The show coincidentally featured other performers which I thought I would see for the first time tonight, but events had transpired such that I got a "preview" of them a few days early at other venues.

First up was Kelly McMichael and the Gloss. Last week at the small Piston, they played a soft 80s pop. The bigger sound system here highlighted more details in their songs. Nevertheless, with numbers like Solo, Makes Men, and cover Erase Rewind, it was "bedroom" pop, the kind you put on as you lie around and chill. So McMichael's languid voice played better with pop than the more indie-rock tunes. Casey Mecija played next with her new act Warm Myth. With a set-up full of pedals and effects and a second guitarist (though drummer Kieran Adams is currently touring as Diana), it was clearer what the new approach was about. Vocal fragments and repeated phrases by Mecija, floating over an atmospheric layer of reverb, electronic synth, and often her own voice.

It was too bad there weren't more people here at the Great Hall for Kat Burns' solo effort. I have heard Kashka at smaller venues with just her, the guitarist, and a bevy of electronics. For this occasion, she had put together a full band. Paradoxically, given that this "folkpoptronica" can be done more or less with just computers, a live band gave it more muscle, more dynamism, and yes, actually more dance. This was the best performance yet. Many songs (Never Had It, Prophet, Body Like Lead) were dance-floor worthy while others (Bloodlines was about connecting with the painful past of her Polish predecessors) were more introspective. But they all had intelligent, evocative lyrics.

It's a bit of a bind. Burns' has admitted that "smaller" Kashka makes touring economically easier. Yet this "full experience" would win many more fans by highlighting the Austra-esque (intelligent pop) quality of these tunes. But the fans have to be there for "big" Kashka to make sense. Not sure how to solve this knotty problem. Body Like Lead's debut is doing great on the Canadian indie radio charts, so hopefully this will give Kashka momentum. Because a venue should be packed with dancers grooving out to her engaging music.