Photographs by Sarah Rix.
The spirit of Montreal came to town and filled the sold-out Mod Club with beautiful, indie music. Headliners Half Moon Run and show openers Folly & the Hunter, having travelled together across the country, made a stop in Toronto.
At 6:30 Folly & the Hunter played an airy, atmospheric 30-minute set. The unusually early start proved a challenge for the Toronto crowd. In the face of big city jobs and and big city traffic, only a few die-hard music fans were there to hear the first few songs, but by the third song there was a palpable buzz in the air. The talented trio rose to the occasion and filled the room with its folky, airy indie songs.
Half Moon Run kicked off its show with the radio-friendly Turn Your Love. The band cleverly took their indie-folk sound and gently infused it with poppy synth embellishments. They then moved into I Can’t Figure Out What’s Going On with a simpler treatment. The four member group sounded tight and polished. Lead vocalist, Devon Portielje jokingly thanked the audience for coming out to see their “matinee” performance as the room continued to fill.
They played for a full hour touching on songs from both their studio albums, the most recent being Sun Leads Me On which was released in October. There were classic folky touches – Dylanesque harmonica riffs and plenty of acoustic guitar. The Mod Club is one of Toronto’s more intimate venues and they could easily have stuck with more acoustic arrangements, but this band has several personalities and at times they wanted to sway, at others to rock. Need It received a bluesy interpretation that was sultry and cool. Call Me in the Afternoon had the audience singing and bopping along. The band ended the main set with Consider Yourself, a big rock tune.
The crowd gobbled up the two song encore – Trust and Full Circle. The former was a high energy, synth-heavy pop tune coupled with a fancy light show that seemed too big for the Mod Club to contain. The latter was a fan favourite that allowed for some serious fan singing. When the band left the stage, the crowd waited barely one beat before chanting “one more song”. The call was answered. Half Moon Run and Folly & the Hunter came out for a rousing rendition of Bob Dylan’s I Shall Be Released. Fans were elated as they spilled onto College Street chattering on about the enjoyable, intimate show.