Sounds Like

Friday was the inaugural night for new music series Live At Massey Hall. To expose promising new Canadian acts to a wider audience, 2 acts per night are given the opportunity to play at this historic venue at a low price of $18.94. In addition, the shows will be recorded and mastered for 30 min online videos.

Tonight the opening act was "doom soul" Cold Specks. Fronted by Etobicoke singer Al Spx, they played layered noisy arrangements with her voice alternating between buried in the mix and soaring over it. Though her old songs were gloomy, she wryly pointed out that after releasing I Predict A Graceful Explosion, she had moved on from that depressive state. As such, tunes from the upcoming Neural Plasticity were more joyful. I have seen Cold Specks several times and her mix of gospel and caterwauling are better front and centre on simple arrangements.

4-man band Timber Timbre mined several genres, though each CD has its own thematic flavour. Essentially, they deconstructed classic forms such as blues and doo-wop and updated them lyrically and sonically, often adding unusual chord changes or bridges. Lead singer Taylor Kirk was so excited for his Massey Hall debut (unlike Cold Specks who was more tongue-in-cheek jaded with her 4th appearance) that he blurted out a few four-letter words. At which a voice floated down from the 2nd row balcony section, "Don't swear in front of your grandma". After sheepishly waving at his nona, Kirk noted to audience cheers that "when you play Massey Hall, your grandma comes out to your show."