Photographs by Dakota Arsenault.
Credit where credit is due: Timber Timbre know how to set the mood. Touring their fifth album (April 2014’s Hot Dreams), the band packed in a crowd for the second of three consecutive sold-out nights at Lee’s Palace – a venue far more cramped and dark than their earlier Toronto performance this year, then playing to an equally sold-out Massey Hall.
A wall of smoke floated over four neon signs hung behind the band. The lights were kept low; the vibe decidedly moody and foreboding from the get go.
Of course, hearing Timber Timbre on record gives you a pretty good sense of what to expect. There’s an inherent sultry quality tied to what the four-piece create – thickly laying into the mood right out of the gate with droning bass and stark, baritone vocals. That’s not to say Timber Timbre is restricted to one type of sound (though admittedly much of what they do is anchored around Taylor Kirk’s distinctive vocal delivery), but more a comment on their ability to transport listeners to dark, desolate places. It’s part creeping blues, part horror-meets-desert-western movie soundtrack, and entirely enveloping.
Fourth song of the set “Lonesome Hunter”, from 2011’s Creep On Creepin’ On, was particularly indicative of their strengths. It’s the type of track you’d expect to hear walking into a Shining-esque ballroom. It’s uncanny, but it’s (relatively) upbeat, sweeping, and such a throwback to situations you’ll only ever see and experience on screen.
Timber Timbre didn’t go at it alone, either, with help in the form of Fiver’s Simone Schmidt, returning to the stage after an opening set to perform “Curtains!?” – a song from the Polaris short-listed Hot Dreams. It was pulsating and sinister: equal parts old time-y and 1980’s-era thanks to the work of Mathieu Charbonneau on keys.
The four-piece received a warm reception for many of Creep On Creepin’ On’s more notable tracks. “Black Water” drew a warm reception, as did “Bad Ritual”. “Magic Arrow”, from their 2009 self-titled third record (and a song featured on AMC’s Breaking Bad) played well too, crawling to its finish and receiving a brief moment of respectful silence before the crowd broke out into applause and cat-calling.
Not to be outdone, the new material also flexed its muscle – Hot Dreams’ title track bringing out an illuminated disco ball and much-appreciated saxophone accompaniment. Their saxophonist returned for a few more numbers during the night, including “Woman” (another from Creep On), where warped, sinister instrumentals from Simon Trottier (guitar), Charbonneau (keys), and Olivier Fairfield (drums), swapped in-and-out with Kirk’s more assured vocal parts. When all the instruments came together for that final melodic finish, it was the band at their most refined: stark, devastating, hypnotic, and alluring. It was everything you’d hope Timber Timbre to be.
My only qualm with the set came from Kirk’s attitude on stage. Specifically: his attitude toward fans trying to capture a picture-worthy moment. As an artist, it’s inevitably disheartening to see people paying more attention to their cell phones than to what’s happening on stage – and Kirk himself seems this side of camera shy – but I tend to have a problem when artists specifically try to police it.
The reality is: people enjoy shows in different ways. You can play in the dark and you can play behind a screen, if that’s what you think helps set the mood, but calling people assholes for trying to remember a great show? There’s something all together alienating about that. That was the one shame, really. For a band who craft a mood so well, you’d think they’d be a little more thoughtful toward fans just trying to capture their own.
