The Future is Female

I had planned on going to 2 music shows on Saturday but when the schedules got changed I had to prune my plans. As such, I was only able to see opener Helena Deland for the Class of 2017 show at the Silver Dollar. The Montréal singer did a solo show in front of a fairly big crowd. Her guitar arrangement often included thumbing several bass notes.

I made it for the tail-end of Lido Piementa's act at the Mod Club. She combined propulsive dance beats and latin rhythm. Over which she overlaid some political lyrics. The packed audience didn't quite move to her exhortations but there were some takers at the front.

Speaking of which, Austra's new album Future Politics was timely given the current world events. Katie Stelmanis played several tracks of it, which often have a plaintive lyrical quality. Her older tracks were straight-up dance which got more audience involvement, though there were plenty who already knew the words to Future Politics. With the club vibe including lights and big sound, it was a better showcase of their music than the anemic show I saw at Yonge-Dundas square.