Eternal Summers @ The Garrison – August 7, 2012

After playing in Toronto for the first time back in June during NXNE, Eternal Summers returned to play the Garrison, in support of their new album, Correct Behavior. For a band that is oft described as “lo-fi” and “dream pop,” seeing Eternal Summers play live proves they are far beyond these pigeonholing labels.

The three-piece band consisting of Nicole Yun (vocals/guitar), Daniel Cundiff (drums/vocals) and Jonathan Woods (bass), Eternal Summers brings an impressive array of influences to their sound – including power pop without the schmaltz, a touch of punk and 80’s guitar tone. All in all, Eternal Summers is a band that unapologetically rocks out, gets loud and isn’t afraid to get sweaty. And sweaty did they get!

Cundiff’s drumming at times seemed like just a blur of drumsticks and hands – and sounded so perfect and impossibly fast that you could swear it was a drum machine and not a human playing. Yun’s vocals were always spot-on, despite the amount of fast-paced songs – both in guitar playing and singing. The bulk of their setlist contained songs from the new record – upbeat tunes that included “Millions,” “Disappear” and “Wonder.” Cundiff took over vocals for “Girls in the City,” a very 80’s-tinged mid-tempo track also from Correct Behavior. The band slowed it down with “Good As You” (from the new album) and “Bully in Disguise” (from their debut album, Silver), both showcasing the loveliness and softness of Yun’s voice (both are also personal favourites of mine).

With an hour-long set, Eternal Summers was able to surpass their NXNE performance in that they could better exhibit their talents and range with the longer set. On stage, they look like they’re having fun while doing it well. Though the audience turnout was modest (understandable for a Tuesday night after a long weekend and somewhat late set times), those who were there danced enthusiastically and looked to be converted fans if they weren’t already.

Cold Specks @ The Great Hall – August 8th, 2012

Things seem to be heating up pretty quickly for Cold Specks. Hot off a shortlist nomination for this year’s Polaris Prize for her critically acclaimed debut, I Predict a Graceful Expulsion, the soulful chanteuse played a sold-out show at The Great Hall last night.

Snowblink by Dustin Cordeiro

Opening for Cold Specks was Toronto-based duo, Snowblink, whose rhythmic guitar work complemented lead singer, Daniela’s Feisty (like Leslie Feist, and the adjective) voice on the band’s mellow songs. Their dreamy folk sound was perfect for a hot summer night and Daniela provided the crowd with some entertaining banter between playing her deer-antler guitar.

Cold Specks opened their set with Al Spx crooning an acapella cover of Jana Hunter’s “Restless” before leading directly into “The Mark,” the first track off her debut. Before beginning the third song of the set, Spx explained that the band had a hard time agreeing on a setlist and thus decided to play the songs in the order they appeared on the album. However, that didn’t stop Spx from throwing in a few more acapella covers, the most memorable of which was a soulful rendition of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song.

The most remarkable songs of the night were stomp-heavy tracks from her album like “Holland” and “Steady”, which Spx prefaced by saying “This’ll be a loud one.” Spx even decided to play her album closer “Lay Me Down,” a song she had sworn off playing ever again until she just recently brought it back. For the encore, Spx introduced a new track called “All Flesh Is Grass,” which may be one her most instantly memorable songs due in part to the repetition of the simple line, “Dirty water, dirty water, fill me up tonight” as the song’s chorus. Whether or not the rest of her new work will be this uplifting is still to be seen. But either way, this new direction seems promising and there’s no telling where it could take her.

Anti-Flag @ Warped Tour, July 15, 2012

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