Kickstarting Canadian Music Week, the highlights

photos by Samuel Engelking

Despite the March hail, snow, and subzero winds the Canadian Music Fest experience so far has been pretty damn magical. It is officially day 4 of the festival so it seemed like a good time to share the notable performances for the first few days:

DIANA, Toronto, Canada, facebook.com/DianaSound

DIANA are Toronto natives Carmen, Joseph, Paul, and Kieran. Having spent some time touring around Canada and performing at SXSW they returned home to open for no one other than Chvrches. Quite honestly, we could not think of a better band to kick start this act and perhaps even the entire Canadian Music Fest. DIANA’s music is reminiscent of early Madonna, soft in a way of luminous sounds that take you back in the sunlit early morning dreamland where everyone is in love.

Chvrches, Glasgow, Scotland, chvrches.tumblr.com

Chvrches (pronounced as Churches) have been around since 2011 and quite promptly were noted to be a very promising new music talent. Needless to say, the world caught up. CBC recently referred to them as “the most praised band at SXSW 2013” after winning the inaugural Grulke Prize at SXSW for best non-U.S. band. For a band who did not put “all of their eggs in the music basket” they sure are doing well which has a lot to do with their live performances – the band’s collective energy is contagious.

The Zolas, Vancouver, BC, thezolasmusic.com

The Zolas have always held a soft spot in our digital magazine heart. Since we got our hands on Ancient Mars last year it became clear that these guys are doing something interesting. Having seen them live we’ll rephrase that into they are doing something precious. During their interview with Quip last year Zachary Gray said it was never their intention to become a band but having found a fun way to being a band turned out to be the trick for The Zolas success.

Wildlife, Toronto, Canada, wildlifemusic.ca

A few days ago we shared …On the Heart album review so seeing them live now was pretty much a must-do. Having entered the Great Hall at 11:30pm we sat around gazing down from the balcony wondering if the room would fill up and so it did – an hour later the entire jam-packed hall was voluntarily singing along, and I don’t mean a miscellaneous hum here and there, it was a collective musical chore with an occasional off-key wasted yell which somehow still made sense. All things considered, this would also be the first CMF performance we’ve seen where the crowd demanded an encore.

The Darcys, Toronto, Canada, thedarcys.ca

Last night’s 1am secret guest performance. If you stuck around on a school night to see this show you know it was worth it. Those who know The Darcys know the band had their share of misfortunes but they pulled through taller and stronger under the wings of Canada’s biggest music label Arts & Crafts. The Darcys live performance, much like their music, is dramatic and dark, the sound time-travels with each guitar stroke with unbreakable concentration, all of it is ghostly beautiful.