Ladies' Night Redux

Following on the heels of Saturday, it turns out tonight is also jam-packed with female performers. This time, it's at the Horseshoe Tavern. Perhaps it is Sunday night, or because the -20C weather has returned, but the venue is criminally sparse for such wonderful acts.

First up is Kashka, Kat Burns' venture into folk-poptronica. For most of their set, they draw from her two albums including the recent Bound. With live band members, Kashka's sound take on a more rock feel. Perhaps cognizant of that dynamic, two new songs are more in that vein. Burns' is still not fully comfortable fronting a dancey act, but she will need to cultivate a "bigger" persona on stage to really sell the material (i.e., getting the passive Toronto indie attendee moving on the dance floor).

Adaline surrounds herself with digital stations to play the dark synth-pop of her album Modern Romantics. Unfortunately, this is the cause of her troubles tonight. Having brought the wrong set of cables, her equipment keeps losing connections in the middle of a number and requiring reboots. She finally brings up a friend to physically hold the cables in place, to partial success. Adaline is finally left with just a Korg bass synth and ends her set early. Ironically, the lack of "music" or instruments actually showcases just how big her voice is.

Sidney York is primarily a female duo from Calgary playing bright, gleeful pop such as Mile-High Love and new single Hearts. Their band is currently touring to promote their latest effort called "<3s", which is coming out as five 7" vinyls, with the first two already available. High-energy and exuberant on stage, they easily win the crowd over for sing-a-longs and clapping. Any band that incorporates french horn (Brandi) and bassoon (Krista) is a winner in my book. Yet for their antics, the new tunes (Sparks, Weapons-Grade Love, Electro-Love) are more tinkly ballads perfect for those montages at the end of TV episodes (their manager should try and get some of that sweet licensing money.)