The Mixtape crew is at it again. We’re out and about checking out as many In The Dead of Winter shows as possible and bringing you the reviews. In the Dead of Winter is a three-day music festival featuring more than thirty artists showcasing their talents in five venues throughout Halifax. Here’s our review of the first night:
Steve Maloney’s vocals will blow you away. Hailing from St John’s, Newfoundland, Maloney is a warm, down-home boy who is charming and friendly, but when he starts to sing your jaw will drop. His powerful voice lifts his beautiful folk fare, original and cover songs alike. Maloney covered Wilco’s “We’re Just Friends” and played a handful of new songs from his record due to drop in March. He’s working on the new album with fellow Newfoundlanders Hey Rosetta!.
Dressed in black shirts for guys and black dresses for the gals, Quiet Parade played comforting and personal songs at the Marquee Club. The band showed a little more life than their early days, swaying to the sounds of their instruments and smiling. The band brought some extra firepower as they were joined by a trio of singers to provide backing vocals. Quite Parade paid homage to one of their favourite records of 2013, covering “Difference A Day Makes” by Jim Guthrie.
Adam Fox, also known as Field Assembly, has a wispy and moody voice. His smooth guitar is a treat as well, but it’s his beautiful and elaborate songwriting that makes him worth listening to. His haunting lyrics are as memorable as they are perplexing. Just don’t ask him what they are about. “I’m not really into telling you what I’m going for,” he said during the show. If you like Iron and Wine, Field Assembly is the Canadian equivalent. Show highlight: when Halifax-local Gianna Lauren joined him for a few songs. The pair previously played shows from Halifax to Vancouver on a VIA Rail train cross-Canada tour.
Stewart Legere’s delicate and playful melodies are enchanting. His simple guitar-and-vocals, singer-songwriter routine lacks for nothing; it is rich and full. His ease with both his voice and guitar will transport you. Legere rounded out a truly amazing evening of music at Parentheses Gallery. Legere has been a staple of the Halifax music scene but his first album is in the works now, slated for release in fall 2014 (he means it this time).
It didn’t take long for Basia Bulat to win over the crowd. Armed with a ukulele, she stepped to the edge of the stage with an ear-to-ear grin while playing her first song. This was her first show in Halifax in quite a while so she treated the crowd by asking what they wanted to hear played. Bulat commanded the audience’s attention with her powerful and emotion filled voice. Later on in the night, Kirk Taylor of Timber Timbre stated he had never heard a voice like that in person. Bulat rotated from ukulele to autoharp to keyboards, slightly changing the instrumentation but keeping the power constant.
Festival favourite Jim Bryson headlined the Company House on night one of IDOW. Jim Bryson is a complete professional, meaning that he knows how to swear and over share on stage and not give a shit (though he is a professional in that he makes his living as a musician; gigs include working with Sarah Harmer, Kathleen Edwards and many others). His show is side-splittingly funny, but not because he’s trying for it. That’s who he is. He is your funny friend, who has great stories about everything and you just want to sit back and listen. “It’s not that I repeat stories it’s that I repeat mistakes,” he said on stage. Oh, and his songs are playful and deep, worth returning to over and over.
This was Bryson’s first show of 2014 — he doesn’t play tons of shows, busy with raising a family and building a recording studio in his backyard, which is a damn shame. He is a treat.
The masters of spooky blues rock were the centre of a storm of excitement closing out the night at the Marquee Club. Timber Timbre have a new album Hot Dreams coming out on April 1st, so they were anxious to play new songs from that record. Meanwhile the crowd enjoyed the songs but still kept shouting out requests for older tracks such as “Demon Host” (which was not played). Lead singer and guitarist Kirk Taylor seemed to enjoy the rowdiness of the crowd as he paused to laugh after drunken fans derailed the chorus of “Black Water” by singing along at a different tempo than the band. “This is the best moment of my life,” Taylor said as the band paused, absorbing song requests, before finishing the song. Playing as a four piece band, the current version of Timber Timbre is more blues rock and roll than previous incarnations that were haunting and string heavy. The new band setup gave the old songs a new sound. Overall, the show gave a hint that Hot Dreams will be different than previous albums but will still hold that classic Timber Timbre haunting and swampy sound.
Photo: Mixtape/Jonathan Briggins
Video: Mixtape/Bill McEwen (on behalf of IDOW)
Video: Mixtape/Evelyn Hornbeck
Words:Mixtape/Evelyn Hornbeck and Jonathan Briggins