L after Love

Sunday night, I was at The Baby G for an EP release. It was sadly a sparse crowd, probably a combination of Nuit Blanche hangover and it being Sunday. Nobody wants to go out Sunday night where the first opener doesn't even start until 9:30 pm.

Isla Craig played with a full band numbers from her album including Who Am I and Bird of Paradise which was an ode to loved ones who have "passed from this realm". She also tried new songs about the "steadiness of the moon" and "riding the waves". Her jammy, stoner music was complemented by judicious use of languorous sax melodic lines.

Headliner Lisa Conway has shrunk her band L Con to just herself though she was joined on harmony by Isla Craig on 2 songs. I appreciate her playing her music "live" instead of just a backing track. But since all her knob fiddling couldn't really be seen by the audience, it's still a bit redundant visually. As Conway pointed out, for someone who doesn't dance on stage, she has been writing a lot of dance-y music. So though the plaintive Distance To The Moon opened the show, the rest of the set from Form of Space to Winner had plenty of bass and beat. But L Con's synth-pop isn't four-on-the-floor club numbers, it was full of interesting off-kilter rhythms, noisy samples, and layers of atmospheric effects. Even a straight-forward ballad Believe contained odd sonic textures. Her lyrics were also repleted with understated and strange imagery. Appropriately enough, Conway ended with a synth version of In The Air Tonight because throughout the set, her lighting collaborators had projected a kaleidoscope of 80s CGI geometric shapes and squiggles behind her.