Three Muses

Saturday night, I went to an early show at the Burdock. Because of my trek from The Beaches area, traffic, and a quick dinner, I arrived at the tail end of opener's Mark Fossen set. After a short break, The O'Pears (Meg Contini, Jill Harris, Lydia Persaud) took the stage. This trio didn't have a backing band tonight, though they did play various instruments including ukulele and guitar.

As such, they aren't strictly an a capella band. Still, the most obvious thing about these singers were their harmonies. Most pop songs may have some backing vocals on the chorus. The O'Pears' folk-tinged numbers have 3-part lines interwoven throughout. Even the new songs, which had more pop sensibilities, emphasized their resonant vocals. Their music left the packed room in breathless silence, although whoops of delight did break out.

Persaud mentioned that this was their 5th anniversary as a band. It's amazing they haven't had more mainstream success given their advantages. In addition to their voices, to put it bluntly, these are young, photogenic, quite attractive women. Also, media-friendly personalities can be fleshed out without too much embellishment: the sexy one, the cute one, the sassy one. They just need a more connected agent and a deliberate strategy of creating one or two cross-over pop hits.