Canada House - Moth Club, Jan 25th 2023
On a facecrunchingly cold January evening, I throw myself selflessly upon the mercy of the bus gods, in a futile effort to travel in an approximately straight line from my house to the MOTH club in Hackney. For why? Well, it’s the second of two Canada House shows promoting independent Canadian artists and I owe them, frankly. Having taken a sabbatical from my regular RGM Maple Leaf duties, I feel it’s time to make amends with that wonderful country to which we are so culturally – and, of course, monarchically – connected. The shows are taking place as part of UK Americana Music Week and the MOTH is pleasingly bedecked with Canadian flags, to make double-sure we all remember which countries are which.
As it turns out, the bus gods are demonstrably displeased and, as a result, I arrive late, just in time for the final guitar solo in the Hello Darlins’ set. I therefore cannot report fully on their performance aside from this particular passage of rippingly impressive fretwork. What I can do, however, is urge you to check out their current single ‘Better Days’, where they’ve teamed up with the chocolate-voiced Dave Fenley to deliver a soulful balm we can surely all benefit from in these knuckle-blistered winter days. The band, who are made up of some of Canada’s most respected session players, are, as I type, off to the Netherlands before returning home to a very long tour supporting celebrated blues guitarist Matt Andersen.
“In a brief thirty minutes, The Hello Darlins effectively gave a country music history lesson. Opening with the very traditional in ‘Will The Circle Be Unbroken’ and closing with singer Candace Lacina demonstrating her ability to yodel (yes, yodel). In between, they dipped into their excellent debut album for ‘Aberdeen’ and showcased a couple of tunes expected to appear on an upcoming album set for release later this year. They even found time for Candace to do a fantastic job of paying tribute to Linda Ronstadt by sounding exactly like the famed singer (no mean feat). The Hello Darlins are hard to pin down musically, as they’ve the vocal and musical ability to play anything, a view reinforced by Mike Little’s impressive organ runs. I’m looking forward to that planned album release to see what The Hello Darlins come up with next.”
My apologies must also go to Mikhail Laxton, whose set I have missed in its entirety. I have it on good authority, though, that Laxton made nothing other than an exquisite representation of himself to the assembled throng (and it is a throng, I can tell you). The Australian, who now calls Canada his home, may be known to you as a star of The Voice, but his subsequent work as a songwriter and record-maker proves he has a lot more to recommend him than simply his ability to tear hearts in two using only his vocal cords.
“As Mikhail Laxton was a new name to me, I checked out his ‘Real’ EP earlier in the day. ‘Real’ is a quality record that oozes soul, rather than the straight country I was maybe expecting, and is a good fit for Mikhail’s smooth vocals. Fast forward to the Moth Club and Mikhail delivers an excellent live set, the soul influences are still there but delivered in a country style. Enlisting Del Barber’s band was a very cool surprise, and we got a welcome dash of exquisitely played pedal steel courtesy of Ryan Funk. An impressive show from an artist who has moved to the top of my watch list. If you need proof, check out ‘Wasting Our Time’ via your preferred streaming service. You can thank me later.”
The throng settles into a respectful hush as twice JUNO-nominated singer-songwriter Julian Taylor takes the stage for an arresting solo set. For a troubadour of such pedigree, Taylor is refreshingly unassuming and instantly easy to warm to. Mining his acclaimed 2022 album, Beyond the Reservoir, Taylor’s performances of the single ‘Seeds’ and the heartbreaking ‘Murder 13’ are arguably the most powerful of the evening. Astonishingly, tonight is his first ever UK appearance. Fear not if you missed it; you can (and should) catch him as he’s, at the time of writing, touring the UK with shows in Germany and Netherlands to follow.
Next up is the prolific husband and wife duo of Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland – aka Whitehorse. The pair are promoting their latest, and most unashamedly country record, ‘I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying’. Doucet’s effortless guitar breaks are simultaneously textbook and a little off-kilter, while McClelland’s perfectly weathered vocal immediately conjures Emmylou Harris. Highlights include ‘Division 5’, a tale of a man reporting his own self missing to the police, and the inspired lockdown lament ‘Scared of Each Other’. The combination of Doucet’s urgently gabbled between-song contextualising and those heavenly harmonies mean I am immediately smitten and mentally calculating if I can afford the whole back catalogue in one splurge. For anyone who may still have been wondering where this pair are at right now, they close with a spot-on cover of Emmylou Harris & Gram Parsons’ ‘We’ll Sweep Out the Ashes in the Morning’. Ace.
William Prince - credit Joey Senft
Armed with a heart-melting baritone voice, Winnipeg’s William Prince is the evening’s penultimate performer. The devastatingly beautiful opener ‘Leave it by the Sea’, from 2020’s Reliever album, works a hypnotic charm on all of us, to the extent that I fear we are actually being subliminally inaugurated into some sort of cult. Barely minutes in, we’re all singing along, new and willing disciples. Prince’s easy between-song chat does much to charm us and another highlight of the set is the wonderful ‘Breathless’ which he unapologetically confesses was the UK Vodafone hold music for quite some time. A delightful excuse to enquire about an upgrade, I reckon.
Halifax-based Willie Stratton is an artist who is clearly unwilling to let this evening go quietly. He and his bandmates make it their business to finish with a bang as they push the house PA to breaking point with their singular brand of Elvis-does-psychobilly. It’s essentially rowdy and raucous rock’n’roll but there is something infectious about the quartet’s deafening energy, and amidst the knee-wobbling, pompadour-trembling and guitar showboating there’s some really fine songwriting; ‘Caroline’ being a particularly memorable moment. Suffice it to say that Stratton made quite the impression. I’m thinking of booking him to play at my funeral.
It’s been a fantastic night. I’m thoroughly impressed, though I can’t say I’m surprised that our Canadian cousins are able to ship over such a diverse bunch of independent artists of such a high calibre. That the country believes and invests in its artists so effectively is to its credit and the Canadian contingent at Americana Week brings a welcome richness to a genre that is often perceived as all hats, boots and twang. I step back out into the frozen London air feeling blessed. And yes, I give the bus a swerve.
Review by Rich Barnard.
On a facecrunchingly cold January evening, I throw myself selflessly upon the mercy of the bus gods, in a futile effort to travel in an approximately straight line from my house to the MOTH club in Hackney. For why? Well, it’s the second of two Canada House shows promoting independent Canadian artists and I owe them, frankly. Having taken a sabbatical from my regular RGM Maple Leaf duties, I feel it’s time to make amends with that wonderful country to which we are so culturally – and, of course, monarchically – connected. The shows are taking place as part of UK Americana Music Week and the MOTH is pleasingly bedecked with Canadian flags, to make double-sure we all remember which countries are which.