08 Oct 2013 — Parker Bruce
In some ways, Pop Montréal is a dream of a festival: its sets start on time for the most part, you can bike from venue to venue, and cap each night with a Midnight Poutine or a Montréal bagel. On Thurday, September 26th, Church of St. John the Evangelist was my first stop, where Jenny Hval performed, with support from Montréal locals Syngja. The church seats were left out for the festival goers to sit in, and admittedly, it felt odd to buy drinks from a table in the back of the church, but you soon forget about that.
Syngja were particularly ethereal during the songs "Pink Prism" and "Remember", sounding better live than ever as they gradually got more fleshed out. Singer and cellist Tyr Jami performed a cover of Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold" at one point, standing up from her cello. Jami's sister, Zuzu Knew, did an amazing on-the-spot visuals on two projectors, making evident things usually hidden from the concert audience. Watching her was fascinating in its own right, moving a dish of water over a black and white image of a woman to give it texture. Aleks Schürmer worked wonders across from Jami on cello, as if working at his own personal loom; welling every track with a sonic emotion, while Tyr delivered vocally. Then Jenny Hval came out and shouted and sang and yelped and ooo'ed and ahh'ed and charmed the audience with her abrupt and disjointed sounds.
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The next night was the Majical Cloudz homecoming show of sorts at Sala Rossa, which looks like a room you would find at a high school or camp talent show, just switched with red walls and chandeliers. Vocalist Devon Welsh talked about how playing this show was different from other shows, as the people at the Montreal show knew who and what the songs were about, and moreover, had also been there the first times the songs had been played in front of other people than themselves. Devon dedicated "What That Was" to "the friends who have come to my apartment," for instance, followed by a cheering audience. What you can't help but notice about Welsh when he's performing is his deliberateness: his arm would hit down on Matthew Otto's frames with intention and discipline, and his singing was methodical and logical.
Later that night, I went to see the amazing UN who was wearing a giant tassel/curtain chord around her neck. She was performing without her drummer that night but did just fine making loop machine swirls. A John Maus-like organ sound haunted "Sex Vampire", which she played after telling us, the audience, that we were "crazy perverts." Like a less spacey, more solid and potent Maria Minerva, you will find the sifted sound of UN. Her campy organ-esque intonations made me think of the sound of 100% Silk, with some songs coming off as meandering, unhurried house. Her last song sounded like Pharaohs and Coyote Clean Up softly combined with a dangling, echo-like drum beat.
Saturday was Divan Orange. Jessy Lanza came on stage in a Tweety Bird t-shirt, sounding somewhat like Róisín Murphy and Class Actress meeting Katy B and Jessie Ware, with everything dialed down to a tee. A late afternoon showcase at the Arbutus Records office had invited Calvin Love, TOPS, and Dent May to perform at their beautiful studio space, it being my first time seeing TOPS in almost a year. Vocalist Jane Penny's (aka Marnie) seemed comfy in the otherwise heatwave-like temperature, playing old and new songs alike, debuting with their new member Madeline Glowicki on bass.
Highlights from the Saturday night, the last day of the festival, included Hua Li at Royal Phoenix with Cakes Da Killa, where she performed a cover of "Stay" by Rihanna; while ¡FLIST! turned it out at Cabaret Playhouse later. A notable mention also goes out to Swedish threesome Team Rockit whose other show at Pop Montreal being the opener for, yes, The-Dream with Mozart's Sister. In similarity to (a more peppy) Salem, the trip didn't exactly play any instruments. Instead, they rapped along to a playback track. I caught the last two and a half songs which luckily included "Aura." Dancing to Team Rockit was pretty much the best way for me to wrap up Pop Montreal. Suffice to say returning to reality was not enjoyable.
