not so secretly canadian: sunset rubdown at the troubador

please note the lamp. (i promise, it will be important later.)

when spencer krug joined band mates michael doerkson, camilla wynne ingr (pony up!), and jordan robson cramer (xy lover) on stage at the troubador last night, he introduced the band with a gentle voice and an unassuming greeting. “ah, hi. so, we’re not wolf parade,” he said. the audience laughed and so did the band. and then sunset rubdown launched into some of the most unique and wonderful live music i have ever heard. (though i can't lie, i did go into the show with a positive bias; i'm a huge fan of wolf parade and am also enjoying the new handsome furs album. gorilla vs. bear has more on that here.)

it is the band's strange combination of characteristics, krug’s soft, often humorous and always unassuming persona and the band’s tormented, otherworldly sound that made sunset rubdown's performance so effective -- something like the musical equivalent of the tales of edgar allen poe -- as read aloud by mother goose.


at the troubador show, krug used a bedroom lamp (see picture above, as promised) to light his keys and the soft, homey glow of its light made the show feel all the more intimate. it was as though we had all been invited into his bedroom, into his most intimate thoughts and moments. the effect of the light was soft and warm, a striking juxtaposition with the music and lyrics the poured out of the band.

despite the darkness of their sounds, in the lamplight, sunset rubdown had a comforting, almost hypnotic effect on the audience. you wouldn’t expect to be comforted by a band that sings songs replete with images of graveyard skeletons, drowning sailors, and the unknowable carnivorous things that reach out from our dreams to drag us into the shadows near death, but despite these figures of loss and hollowness, sunset rubdown managed to live up to the glow of the lamp. their effect was almost indescribable, dark and warm, terrifying even as it consoles.

mmm...sunset rubdown...

(shut up, i am blogging)

with a huge sound and a constant, toe-tapping drum beat, sunset rubdown managed to defy all of my musical expectations, keeping time without a base and rendering songs that are as haunting as they are friendly. Each one was delivered beautifully by master musicians, each almost clearly a product of krug’s extraordinary brand of oddball genius. if we could sleep with our eyes open, as krug intimates, sunset rubdown is most assuredly the band that would greet us from the dark, strange depths of our most wonderfully aberrant dreams.

a+

for more on sunset rubdown, check out passion of the weiss' top 25 albums of last year...right around number one.