[NXNE] Beliefs @ Drake Hotel – June 13, 2012

Toronto shoe-gaze revivalists Beliefs seem to subscribe to the My Bloody Valentine school of thought. Sway gently on stage, bare your soul while holding your offset waist guitar of choice. The more washy and reverberant the chords are, the more they’ll hide their otherwise ethereal melodies. After all, nobody in the crowd should actually hear what you’re playing. That wouldn’t be cool. It’s a model that works well, and Beliefs are good enough to pull it off.

With no formal releases to their name and only a two recorded songs to whet my palate, it was hard to know what to expect while entering the Drake Hotel’s Underground venue. Warming up a crowd of eager show goers that arrived early enough to ensure a good view of Porcelain Raft, their forty-five minute set was enough to get me excited about Toronto music again and justify my decision to avoid having poutine for the second time this week.

What started as serene took a turn to raucous as the set progressed. Closing with “Gallows Bird”, a seven minute long cut that goes from their quietest point to their loudest. Ending with all three guitars droning on the same two chords, with enough added reverberation to make the whole set seemingly fade into oblivion.