What Magic Is This?

Tasseomancy has always flown under the radar, but receiving a 4-star review (album of the week) from Now Magazine for their new album may give these sisters more exposure. So unlike the empty show at the Cave, it was respectably full at the Burdock on Wednesday for their CD release party. Actually, as they pointed out, the new album was actually on cassette.

Forgoing an opener, though there was a DJ for later on, the Lightman sisters took to the stage at around 9:30. There was an underlying pop flavour to their music, perhaps inspired from singing backup for Austra, or due to the keyboard of Johnny Spence and steel pan of Evan Cartwright. But their own inspiration were more eclectic: Amis Tutuola inspired Palm Wine Revisited, a new song was based on a book by Colette and Apophenia is the phenomenon of seeing patterns in randomness (though they did sneak in The Supremes' Keep Me Hangin' On in that song). Though the sisters claimed tongue-in-cheek that their only pop hit (it's "big in Europe") was the catchy Braid Wind Is Coming, their musical arrangement was layered but accessible. Their earnest banter gave the show the feel of a small house party. I don't know if their music could translate to a bigger stage, but they do deserve more commercial success.