Move Your Hips

On Wednesday, I was at The Drake Underground for a solo release album by Lydia Persaud. Opener Mikhail Laxton met Persaud via Instagram and the two have since collaborated when she found out this Aussie musician was currently living in Toronto. With his gruff beard and black outfit, I was expecting some country or americana. But Laxton had a powerful voice that inflected R'n'B. Most of his recent material (Streams, Hurricane, Maybe It's a Good Thing) revolved around an unfaithful ex and his new wife.

Similar to her December show with her folk band The O'Pears, Persaud has gone all-out tonight with a full band, backup singers, and a string quartet. The crowd danced to groovy bangers like More of Me, Honey Child and Well Wasted. She could also do slow-burn ballads like Would You Believe (an ode to love-at-first-sight, something Persaud had previously pooh-poohed), and Low Light where she was joined by her O'Pears pals Meg Contini and Jill Harris. It was interesting to hear about the genesis of each song from the mundane (subletting a bare-bones apartment) to more revealing (not having the energy to invest in a relationship). This was the sort of music that should be played on mainstream radio, elevating pop with superior songwriting.