Free Love

Over the last month, The Baby G venue has been offering free concerts on Sundays. I kept meaning to go but I often didn't want to venture all the way to the West-End on dreary Sunday nights. But for the final show, it was nice enough that I didn't mind the commute.

Since it was an indie show, soundcheck was still happening when I arrived. So I walked around the neighbourhood to see what's changed on Dundas St. between Dufferin and Lansdowne. Pasta Forever was the new shop of former restaurant-chef-turned-Instagram-hustle Jessica Maiorano. I started following her during the pandemic as she pivoted from unemployed chef to home delivery and now storefront. A Spanish tapas and cocktail bar La Piscina has taken over Safehouse Coffee at Brock. It was hopping inside in these early days but I mostly knew it as an old-fashioned convenience store. Neopolitan pizzeria Slow South Pizza is located in a former Portuguese insurance business turned revolving-restaurant-ventures (Cafe Bar Pasta, Toro, Sapori). I remembered when this block had enough of a retro vibe that it was a stand-in for an old-timey New York City location.

The first act was Lydia Persaud. With an album out next Friday, she ran through her new songs with the help of Christine Bougie on guitar. As Persaud thrilled the crowd with numbers like Good For Us and Unsung, I realized that unlike her debut album where she still kept a foot in folk/americana (similar to her work in The O'Pears), she has fully embraced R'n'B. Yet in her smooth delivery and heart-on-sleeve lyrics, there was a throwback quality to her songs, like that of a 50s jazz crooner.

Robin Hatch was a bit of a let-down. She had left her avant-garde classical piano phase and was now exploring synth vibes. This new sound developed with a residency in Calgary on Tonto, a famous 70s era analog synthesizer. But with equipment trouble, fiddling around with settings, and generally a rough performance, her set had no momentum. Hatch needed to be more disciplined and assured when switching her synth sounds, queuing samples and tracks, and combining all the different inputs. Otherwise, she should put everything on backing tracks and concentrate on live vocals and her main synth.

I would have stayed for Omhouse if they had played early on. 10 years ago, they specialized in off-kilter indie rock. So not being my kind of music plus the long ride back East, I left before their set.