Movement in the Lion Den

The Paint Movement used the following tried and true framework for most of their songs in order to win me over with their set at the Ebar Wednesday night. The song openings would be sparse enough, as each member started up, then they'd work in a couple verses before a refrain which would be repeated as the song grew in intensity and everything became louder. By the three-quarter mark things would be soaring along before crashing to an instrumental breakdown ending. It was reminiscent of another Band I wish not to have to mention in aSSociation with Paint Movement yet again. But it is true, the five-piece rocked as hard (and as loud) as a multi-piece collective. Even with the female section limited to one tassle-booted lady in a dress, and the brass to just a sax, with usually only one wailing guitar, rounded out by a drummer and bassist, the sound was full and rich (perhaps filled out with touches of xylophone, keyboard and foot-stomped tambo). My expectations of a jazzy set were not quite met, though during the instrumental breakdowns there were elements of improvisations no doubt, but it worked nonetheless.

The set was far from perfect, whether that be due to lackluster banter, the super loud soundsystem, slight instrumental miscues, or massive amounts of feedback, but it was definitely entertaining enough to warrant me catching them again after they complete their first-ever real tour (out west over the next two weeks). I imagine after that stretch of shows they'll come back much more polished and will be that much better.

The hometown pride of Bass Lions (see what I did there?) took the stage next. Having recently been listening to (and enjoying) their disc, I was slightly disappointed by the stage performance. Could have been that their song which first caught my attention, Ransom the Sunset was given a different sound and didn't live up to the version I've become accustomed to, which put them behind the 8 ball in my head from early in the set. The double drum set, which I thought was causing the offbeat timing (til they played a song with one set that was still offbeat) added to the volume of the cranked up soundsystem, which may have been trying to compensate for the sparse crowd, but in effect muffled the lead and female-backup vocals, spoiling songs. They earned some points for a decent version of Funeral Shed and carried on with Good God Jesus which ended excellently. Most impressive was the song where they showcased their namesake, the bass guitar, to great effect. As an encore they broke out what they referred to as "party band" which had no vocals since the singer was on the second drum set, but added a guitarist from the crowd and closed up the set with some fun.

(Special thanks to Tanis from the Sound Salvation Army for tickets to the show)