It was in 2007, I was driving up with a group of friends from Kentucky back to Montreal.
Their ipod was uniquely filled with soft melodies, minor keys, acoustic guitars, and melancholic lyrics. While I have always been a fan of the list above, somehow the combination always failed to enlighten me. Or maybe grunge of the 90s and electronic music of my raver era had too strong of a hold on me. But there came a point when I admitted "yknow maybe Manu Le Malin might be a bit much."
Henceforth the ipod revealed to me the soothing sounds of Great Lake Swimmers and the opening track "Moving Pictures, Silent Films," me being a film nerd, I was sold!
Fast forward to this past weekend where I enjoyed many local sounds from the softer side of the music spectrum.
The hipstamatik picture above was taken at a loft space on Beaumont where we were treated to many musical talents. One band being No Family, who affirmed that yes, I do love the banjo. I did not take any images of them, but I found a good clip from a show at Sala Rosa.
The man we came to hear was Beaver, a man about town, a staple of Montreal-ness. My companions to the show shared their stories of Beaver, the kareoke nights and the old cock n'bull. I greeted Beaver at the door with a high-five, uncertain if he would remember me from a mutual friend's mother's birthday party.
And then he played. It was awesome, beautiful and sincere. I gave him another high-five on the way out.
Rounding up my weekend was a Sunday afternoon show at Vices & Versa with Malcolm Bauld and Abigail Lapell. I finally picked up Malcolm's vinyl pressing of Covered in Dust, it is awesome! A nice way to end a minus 30c weekend.
