Monday, April 27, 2015

Hollow Twin EP Release @ Hindenburg -- 04/26/15

It was a pretty solid lineup set for Hollow Twin's EP release. Formerly knows as Chatterton Eve, Emmalee Watts and Becky Wosk recently decided to get away from the folk-duo sound and put together a full band, with more of a soulful sound.
Admittedly, I was there as much (if not more) to see the openers, but I had heard a few songs from the new EP and was interested to check Hollow Twin out. Plus, I wanted to check out another show at The Hindenburg, which I am really liking as a venue (well, except for their use of blacklights... that I could do without).


Starting everything off at 9 sharp was The Ruffled Feathers. I hadn't seen the Vancouver six-piece in a few months, so I was looking forward to the set as they kicked off with the grandiose yet catchy "Home" from their first EP Lost Cities. They went on from there playing a set of songs old and new; "Our Beautiful House" off of Oracles made me wish I had a glass of whiskey in hand, and a newer song "Strange Dream" featured bass player Paolo Brian taking over vocals a little.
But most of the vocals throughout the night came from Gina Loes, who also swapped from guitar to ukulele a few times. Her charming voice powered the chamber-pop sound, as the band bubbled over with a fun energy that drew the growing crowd to the stage and got people, if not dancing, then at least tapping their feet.
They wrapped up with a couple of my favourites of the set, an adorable song called "It's All Right, You Can Kiss Me In The Moonlight" which featured a great violin solo from Molly MacKinnon, and the explosive, "Blueprints For Our Failed Revolution".


Next up on the night was a band that I have liked more and more each time I've seen them play, The Wild Romantics. Up until recently I had only seen them as the duo of Aleisha Kalina and Evan Miller, and I liked them okay. But last month, they were opening for Shred Kelly, with a full band, and I was really impressed.
Alisha and Evan's great harmonies were still on display, evidenced by songs like "A Monday In May" or "Memphis, TN", as the couple shared the mic a few times throughout the night with an intimacy. But as a full five piece, the band is much more rocking. And the set just built in energy and intensity as they went on, with a couple highlights being the sharp and biting "Who You Fooling" which had Evan jump into the crowd to sing with some people (those willing, anyway), and a badass rocker called "Fist Fight", that featured an almost literal guitar duel between Evan and their guitar player Rory Froese.
The couple just moved to Vancouver from the island and put the band together a few months ago, and I am looking forward to see what is next for them.


And finally, wrapping up the night was the band of the night, Hollow Twin. They played kind of a short set, with songs from on their new EP Keepers (of course) but also their debut EP before that, Noctuary. Kicking off with "Live A Little", Becky's voice fuelled the sultry jams that filled the next half hour, with songs like the soaring "Finders Keepers".
A bit of technical difficulties part way through the set slowed the momentum a little, but they got it right back on track soon after with a more upbeat, dancey song called "What I Wanted", and they drew the night to a close -- not bothering with the whole encore thing -- with "Lighthouse", the final song off the new EP.

The band put on a fine set, but unfortunately I think they fell victim so something I have seen before: stacking their album release with bands so good, that they were a little overshadowed by the end of the night.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.