The last live show I attended before the first pandemic lock-down was at The Tranzac in March 2020. I remembered the performers offering prayers to hard-hit Europe. I still went to a few restaurants the following week but by the week-end, cancellations and closures were escalating rapidly. Friday night was my first visit to this venue in 2 years.
The opener was Alex Samaras. I knew of him from his stints with The Big Sound and very briefly as a vocal coach for a Maylee Todd outdoor show. I had foolishly replied to her request for background singers (no experience necessary). He was very kind to me but let's just say I can barely sing a melody let alone do harmony.
Tonight his original material (The Map, Time + X) was somewhere between musical theatre and experimental pop. It didn't engage me until Samaras covered Rufus Wainwright (Dinner at Eight). Afterwards, he invited a guitarist collaborator named Sean Donald. The latter's songs were folk-pop (There Within, Caving In, Pretty Cyril) and their voices blended beautifully.
I stumbled upon Zinnia (Rachael Cardiello) on Instagram during the pandemic so had only seen her performances online (often pixelated and choppy). So I was curious to finally see an in-person concert by her. Accompanied by Chris Pruden on a baby grand, and joined by Sam Gleason on guitar through the middle section, she blew me away with her set. Cardiello's voice ranged from soft and quiet to a full blown diva-esque blast that reminded me of Sarah Slean, then Cate le Bon, then My Brightest Diamond. Lyrically though, her dense thoughts was in The Weather Station territory. But whereas Tamara Lindeman's emotional landscape is hidden behind a cool and analytical visage, Zinnia was raw and unfiltered. Her viola and guitar were the cherries on top. I haven't been this flabbergasted by a first show in a long time.
With a divorce that happened during Covid, she had plenty of material for harrowing new songs like Rebound. But there was also unflinching honesty in older numbers like Blueprint and Requiem. Zinnia had a strong stage presence, cheerful enough that it didn't seem weird to the audience to sing along to a song about her ex bringing his new lover to their old spots or the ups and downs of a bipolar episode (Lithium). I don't know when this Montanan made her way to Toronto, but I'm sad that I won't be around to see more of this dynamite musician.
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