Arthur & Yu play 60s-inspired fried folk with tradeoff boy-girl lead vocals. Tonight, Arthur’s voice was in top shape, and even though Yu’s vocals sounded unconfident alone, they still sounded good together. “Afterglow,” “Lion’s Mouth,” and “The Ghost Of Old Bull Lee” are all highlights off their debut album In Camera, and all sounded great live.
Live, Kevin Drew abandoned the acoustic guitars and small production found on his new album Spirit If, widening the sonic pallet of new songs like “TBTF,” “Fucked Up Kid,” and “Gang Bang Suicide,” really playing them like Broken Social Scene would, minus ten or so members. Drew and the rest of the band vividly painted the acoustic guitars and small production chamber pop of Spirit If with atmospheric strokes of echoes or beats, like Explosions in the Sky or Radiohead songs. Everyone on stage with Drew was in fact a BSS member, so the band went through plenty of excellent BSS tracks like “Cause=Time,” and “It’s All Gonna Break,” mixing Sunny Day Real Estate arena indie rock guitar effects with lyrics sung in Drew’s boyish vocals (which border on a young J Mascis until Drew goes into his excellent falsetto).
At the end of an awesome two-hour set, everyone standing in the crowded main stage area of the Canopy Club was blown away. This was easily one of the best shows of the semester and a contender for show of the year.
Photo credit: Myspace.com