Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Recording: Julie Doiron & The Wrong Guys

Artist: Julie Doiron & The Wrong Guys

Songs: Dark Horse + I Woke Myself Up

Recorded at Christie Pits Park ("Bloor Ossington Folk Festival"), September 21, 2014.

Julie Doiron & The Wrong Guys - Dark Horse

Julie Doiron & The Wrong Guys - I Woke Myself Up

Once again, the Bloor Ossington Folk Festival stayed true to its roots as a low-key and local celebration. By enfolding itself into the contours of Christie Pits, BOFF still feels casual and approachable, even with some heavy hitters in its lineup. As so often happens at outdoor events, weather forced organizers to make some adjustments on the fly, but even having to move the headliners into the beer tent served to reinforce the intimate vibes. There's room to grow, but overall the organizers are getting things right.

The only thing that I don't like about Julie Doiron's "rock unit" (featuring Eamon McGrath on guitar plus the Cancer Bats rhythm section of Mike Peters and Jaye Schwarzer) is that, based in different cities and with other projects on the go, they reconvene so infrequently. If this were a full-time unit working on new material, it would send a giant beam of bouncy energy out to the sky as they played — as it is, it merely felt like their heaviness was going to melt a hole through the park's lawn and land on the subway tracks buried below. This was supposed to be on the main stage 'til the storm pushed it into the beer tent, so the sound's a little raw'n'ragged here — but that fits pretty well. (Kudos to Joel Dalton (of The Idaho Stop), who was running sound here, a task that included some on-the-fly electrical work as the band's gear strained the generator's limits.)

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