Saturday, March 12, 2005

Hamilton shoegaze invades Toronto

A Northern Chorus sounded exactly like I imagined they would. The sighing harmonies and latter day Slowdive haze from their albums were meticulously reconstructed before my eyes and ears. Very similar to the albums, except ... more.

I've now seen Sianspheric four times, and each time they look completely different. Chalk it up to my fading memory (this band has perfected the "extended hiatus") and/or genuine personnel changes that I've lost track of. This time around, they've shed a guitarist and stripped down to a vocalist plus a basic guitar/bass/drums setup, albeit one that still relies on a legion of FX pedals and makes a heck of a lot of noise. Adding to my "who are these guys?" confusion, they're suddenly a band that likes to talk to the audience and make trips to the bar between songs. And the audience perhaps contributed to the band's "who are these people?" confusion, seeing as two-thirds of the people there were cookie-cutter Drake Hotel yuppie-in-training clientele, the sort of people who can't be bothered to clap or acknowledge a band they supposedly like.

Tonight brought an inspired tour through the band's back catalog (new album plz, split with Toshack Highway = not enough), and the clear highlight came as the guitarists from ANC joined them for a gargantuan, anthemic version of "I Like the Ride".

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