WILDLIFE, Paint Movement, Make Your Exit (Horseshoe Feb.18)

Whoa Wildlife! That album of yours... somehow reminiscent of Wolf Parade and still catchy/grabby like Tokyo Police Club. But this isn't a record review; I'm just getting it out in the open that I ventured out into the Wildlife for the first time already smitten. Admittedly I groaned when the laser and smoke machine were hauled on stage but besides the occasional blinding dart of green light I was won over in a hurry. As I was with the performance too.

Jamming out an intro in the dark the five lads looked well accustomed to the stage with a confident presence. They showed that they've got the chops to back it up too as they broke out into album opener Stand in the Water. With ease they performed a slew of songs, largely retaining their album veneer - even amped up further for the live setting. Matches with its singable and quotable chorus shone like a laser to the eye. Drunken Heart was an interesting inclusion in the set-list, while personal fave Move to the City was an equally disappointing exclusion (- a reason to catch them again I suppose!). Current single Sea Dreamer also fared well, though with a consistently strong performance no single track stood head and shoulders above. If there's one thing that always gives a show a boost in my books it's adding extra drummers to the mix -and the whistle-solo is A-OK too! Wildlife give it their all, evidenced by the blood pouring from a self-induced run-in between bass and forehead (requiring stitches), and they don't show any signs of slowing down from intro to glorious outro.

The Paint Movement have continued despite my lack of attention. Last I heard from them they were honing their sound and I'm happy to report that they've been successful on that front. Their instrumental breakdowns were something to look forward to song after song, especially as the vocals for Buffalo-beard and No-beard were muddled and low this night. Actually when Normal-Beard sang the final song and it came through loud and clear it made me wonder why he hadn't piped up more, though the stronger moments of female vocals that broke through were also impressive. Sounding less like Broken Social Scene this time around they appear to be gaining confidence and growing into a sound of their own - Faults proved this.

Make Your Exit actually made quite the entrance Friday night - it was the exit that I found lacking. With the core five and an additional two members lined across the stage front they settled down a decent-sized, babbling Horseshoe crowd to start a slow snap. Quickly I realized that this was their a capella version of Zeus' The River By The Garden, as seen on Southern Souls. Both that video and the live version were pretty darn great, building up to epic proportions with melodica and kazoo. Unfortunately for me this turned out to be the high point of the set as I was unfamiliar with their music, and though it was decent indie rock it sort of melded together which made it feel as if it were dragging on. (Being band 3 of 3 and nearing last call probably had some effect on this too.) At the time I stated that the encore felt extraneous.. make your exit boys, make your exit.

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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)

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