Cat and Cow

While on holiday in Ottawa, I have been visiting Pure Yoga studio to try and minimize the Yuletide pounds. It's larger and better furnished than almost any studio in Toronto, probably because an equivalent space in Hogtown would cripple the owner in rent. On Friday, I decided to reward myself with lunch after a noon-hour class.

With a few exceptions, Ottawa hasn't done a great job of keeping its old buildings and neighbourhoods, Parliament Hill notwithstanding. So even trendy shops (and ethnic restaurants) have trouble finding spaces to gentrify. But there was room for a handful in the block between Catherine and Gladstone on Bank St.

Talay Thai was tastefully furnished with dark, wooden tables and Asian décor. Looking over the lunch menu, I chose the chicken panang ($9.95). The red curry was nicely presented and the flavour play was subtle but distinctive. This was a good, light touch on a dish that is usually lazily done nowadays.

Then I walked up the block to Moo Shoo Ice Cream. Newspaper articles about evening line-ups reminded me of several such dessert places in Toronto. In the middle of winter, there were no such crowd but there were a few customers in the tiny spot. I got 2 scoops ($5): strawberry and yuzu. The former's flavour was almost non-existent but the latter was strong and bold. But overall, they were a bit too crumbly and gritty for me (with bits of frozen ice). I prefer my ice cream smooth and rich. Since I did not pick the vegan options, I want more dairy in my treats.

Hold Me Now

Thursday night, I was at The Great Hall for the sophomore album of local band Diana, who got some online buzz 3 years ago with dance-pop songs like Born Again. The opener for tonight was Montréal singer Mozart's Sister. She was almost the opposite of the chill cool of the headliner; her dance music was made to get your butt to move. Unfortunately, the early stand-offish Toronto crowd didn't join her until near the end of her set. Though she had a big voice that was unleashed from time to time, Caila Thompson-Hannant preferred to coat it in various effects. She was also fond of odd beats and rhythms. It made for dance-able and interesting music.

It took 3 years for Diana to release their follow-up album Familiar Touch. Since the band (Carmen Elle, Joseph Shabason, Kieran Adams) was formed as a one-off lark, their success caught them by surprised. As a consequence, they felt their 1st album was rushed. The new release was more carefully planned, including bringing in other musicians. As such, their set tonight included a full band including back-up vocals (Gary Beales, Ivy Mairi), bass, rhythm guitar/synth (Thom Gill), percussions, and the 3 core Diana members.

It made for an impeccable set where they all shined. Freed from having to trigger samples and backing tracks, Adams played drums alternating between precise hits on the slower numbers and furious fills for the upbeat ones. Carmen Elle traded beautiful harmonies with the singers as well as plucky guitar licks with Gill. The adoring crowd ate up the updated 80s vibe, especially during Shabason's sax solos. Before the encore, Carmen Elle closed off their set with a joke: "Well, see you all in another 3 years." Well, I'm certain no one in that audience wanted that.

Snark The Herald Angel Zinged

On Saturday, I went to see A Soulful Messiah by dance company Ballet Creole. Similar to various Handel's Messiah shows and The Nutcracker by the National Ballet, this "Christmas tradition" (at least according to the ad-copy) has occurred every year for more than a decade now. Unfortunately, it felt a slap-dash affair. And with the Fleck Dance Theatre being half-empty, I don't think it's particularly beloved either.

First, the music for this recital is woefully dated. When Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Composition came out in the 90s, this African-American composition was rightfully lauded. But almost 25 years later, the production value hasn't aged well. Second, trying to match the dance style to the each song removed any coherent theme and vision as the music spanned multiple genre from gospel to blues. It was like watching a year's end student's showcase: some didn't have time to fully their ideas, others didn't have enough. Third, shoe-horning in a tap dancer was misguided and awkward.

In fact, it was a shame that all the dancers brought so much enthusiasm and skill to such a mediocre evening. The program noted that the original premiere (as part of a larger show) only used 6 songs from the album. It has since grown to include almost all the music. The tap-dancer made his own debut 6 years ago. This syncretism doesn't work.

Metaverse

At Burdock on Friday, 3 bands played around with internal rhymes, stretching and compressing melodies, and other tweaks to the basic pop structure. I thought that solo opener Julie Arsenault did the best job. Her rhymes were subtle and so were her lyrics. You're enjoying her melody and only a few seconds later do you realized she had just casually dropped a line full of pain and unresolved issues. Coszmos Quartette's songs were the most hippy-dippy "we're made of stardust" verses I've heard in awhile. I didn't mind their attempts to play around with melodic changes. But their lyrics alternated between simplistic rhyming and awkward words whose intonation didn't quite fit the meter.

When members of Montréal band Corinna Rose pulled out both a harp and an auto-harp, I wondered if we were going to hear some folkie/pop hybrid of Emilie & Ogden and Basia Bulat. And an audience request for an old song during the encore hinted that the older music of Rose did have those feelings. But the songs of her set, from her upcoming album, were mostly composed of disquieting and eerie layers. Rose's banjo picking translated to complex guitar arperggiation. She seemed to have reduced her lyrics to simple, unadorned phrases. These were only half as successful in holding my attention as her arrangements.