August was a fickle month. The weather seemed to be changing faster than we hoped and at least for me, the weeks flew by. I wondered to myself how summer could already be over as September rolled around and schools were starting up again. I felt like it was gone too fast and possibly wasted. Why can’t we just have a bit more summer to enjoy before the inevitable “winter is coming” reaches our frozen tundra of a country. But then this past Labour Day weekend seemed to crush those depressing thoughts, in fact it was almost TOO hot of a weekend! What have I wished for? Maybe it was one of those Monkey’s Paw situations where you wish for something positive but it finds a way of back firing on you. Going to The Drake Underground in Toronto made me realize that when summer moments happen to savor them whenever these times occur. I don’t think I’ve seen a bad, or at least uninteresting, show at The Drake before.
Summer Heart was a name that was new to me and listening to his low-fi dream pop album About a Feeling from 2012, I wasn’t sure what to expect as it was pretty mellow. Instead David Alexander and Frederick Rundqvist transported us to the beaches in our collective imaginations. With the bands pulsing upbeat tunes and warped falsetto vocals a dance party slowly emerged in the small venue that was criminally under filled. Alexander who hails from Sweden, is the sole architect of the project mixes tropical house and disco influences together in its own off tempo beat making for some wholly original music that I will be seeking out for further listening. The duo played a brand new track that they confirmed had never been played live before entitles Nothing Can Stop Us Now which had the beachy rock fun of Sugar Ray’s Fly being covered by Passion Pit and their 80’s synth pop style. The video clips of vintage surfers and skaters in locales that looked like Venice Beach in the 50’s-80’s made the room feel like it was on a patio and not in a dark basement. Alexander has the flamboyance of Mick Jagger and the quirkiness of Mac Demarco making him a candidate to break out and be added on the festival touring circuit probably as soon as next year.
It was odd that a band that has played at Coachella, has opened for Lorde and collaborated with Run the Jewels twice would be playing such a small venue and while it wasn’t a sold out crowd at least it filled up considerably more than when the two dozen or so people watched Summer Heart. As soon as the three-piece hit the stage lead singer Pete Lawrie-Winfield silently gestured the crowd to move forward and suddenly we all moved up to the foot of the stage to make the show more intimate. For more insight on Pete, be sure to listen to our podcast interview with him. There is something powerful being a mere foot away from incredibly talented people as they perform on a stage only two feet off the ground. The group fuses hip-hop with electro, jazz and rock to make a blend of thoughtful music that wouldn’t be out of place on a film sound track.
The Nas sampled Perspective was played early on as all three members jammed out on drums with Lawrie-Winfield on an electronic drum pad, James Gordon with a small drum set up next his keyboards and Elliot Wall wailing on his kit while shirtless. Lawrie-Winfield was decked out in a nice suit and a effortlessly cool hat brought sexy back as Persia was played with extra emphasis on the bass beat causing the crowd to grind along to the music.
It seemed that Lawrie-Winfield had quite a bit of troubles with his in-ear monitors as every other song had him aggressively trying to get the technicians attention as he punched his fist in the air signaling to turn the volume up. A few times he even ripped the ear piece out in frustration. Surprisingly to the fact that he was not pleased with the sound of the venue, he never took that frustration out on the fans. In between songs he would make jokes how we were too polite and a bit too “British” for his liking.
For most of the songs there would be video clips played, ones that were very deliberately selected and paired with the music as the band originally conceived by Lawrie-Winfield, was in fact more of a visual project until he realized he preferred music over making films. For Orca, the haunting song about Lawrie-Winfield finding his roommate after he had passed away in his bedroom the imagery shown was that of the black and white titled creature that is far simpler than death.
During a quiet break in between songs someone in the crowd shouted for the band to keep going. Lawrie-Winfield laughed away from the microphone and quiet said they will, which of course the whole crowd heard clearly since the show was so intimate and small. The blues inspired Pressure had even more oomph as Lawrie-Winfield picked up a guitar and did his best Hendrix impression. The song has a schizophrenic-like genre mashing structure that changes tempos and styles several times throughout the course of the song.
The set kept chugging along quickly with minimal breaks between songs and by the time Revolution Indifference came on the crowd was dancing pretty hard. The song even featured a guest appearance from collaborators and hip-hop’s best duo, Run the Jewels, albeit in video form as both Killer Mike and El-P performed their verses.
For the encore Lawrie-Winfield accidentally sang the wrong verse to the first song back. He apparently contemplated whether he should just continue or not, but felt that he had lost his place enough and asked the band to restart as he recounted his thought process to the crowd. The fairly short set concluded with their eponymous track Until the Ribbon Breaks, which featured imagery from the highly underrated All is Lost film starring Robert Redford. As the band bowed to the crowd a young girl in the front who came alone and sung along to every song handed a small bouquet of roses to Lawrie-Winfield who was touched and gave the lady a hug. If that was the end of the summer, then it was a fine night to end it on.
