Spacey synthesizers and heartfelt, epic folk-rock keep DSTRCT dancing
In a wildly-lit DSTRCT, the über-hip venue above Van Gogh’s Ear, local concert organizer Fortnight Music hosted two very different bands for a riotous night of music on Thursday, Oct. 16. Absolutely Free and The Wooden Sky shared the stage; while their sounds are quite disparate to one another’s, both sets were characterized by a massive, epic sound that was easy to get lost in, and even harder to forget.
Toronto-based Absolutely Free, performing material off of their new self-titled LP, took the stage first for a short opening set. The band includes Matt King (guitar, vocals, synth), Moshe Rozenberg (drums, sequencer) and Michael Claxton (bass, synth), all former members of seminal Toronto art-rock ensemble DD/MM/YYYY. Absolutely Free’s music is characterized by synthesizer-laden textures met with tight live drums and guitar/bass, with the members often jumping between instrument roles. As the analog warmth of their sound complimented the psychedelic lighting of the space, their set was at once gentle and intense, taking the best aspects of Krautrock groups like Neu! and Can, and crafting a sound altogether their own.
The Wooden Sky, a gloriously haired folk-rock outfit also from Toronto, took the stage after a short break. They are currently touring their latest LP, Let’s Be Ready. With a ton of equipment on stage, and five musicians who really know how to use it, their live set was as engaging and dramatic as their large, sprawling, folk-informed rock-and-roll. Offering old crowd favourites like “Oh My God (It Still Means So Much To Me)”, and super-fresh material off of Let’s Be Ready, their music had a little bit for everybody to enjoy, which was made very, very clear by the packed room and seemingly ceaseless dancing. With their rock-solid folk-rock grooves, inspired violin flourishes, and epic, sprawling vocal choruses, the five-piece band put on an undeniably powerful show.
I got a chance to sit down with Claxton, King, and Rozenberg to discuss their history together, and how the group describes their music, which resists easy classification. Rozenberg spoke of their past group DD/MM/YYYY (pronounced Day Month Year), saying “Basically, the music is new, but the dynamic and the relationship between us is pretty historic, to say the least.”
Before the release of their LP, the band scored original compositions for a Norman McLaren retrospective at the launch of 2014’s Toronto International Film Festival. McLaren was an influential animator who, among other works, won an Oscar in 1959 for his landmark short Neighbours. Matt King said of the experience, “If you think about how famous animation is now, a lot of that has to do with people like Norman McLaren […] pushing the envelope and experimenting with film. So, to be asked to do that, we felt really honoured to be amongst people like that, and [among] the people who did music for their original scores. So, musicians like Glenn Gould, Ravi Shankar, and Oscar Peterson […] we’re humbled by it and we worked our asses off for it!”
There’s a lot to be said about live music, but even more to be said when a group’s sound outweighs how many people are actually in the band. It’s a difficult thing to keep a vision tightly-focused among musicians, and when individuals come together to make music that sees a particular narrative through, it’s a really special thing. Both the spaced-out, unorthodox timbres of Absolutely Free, and the more straight-up, epic, and genuinely touching folk-rock of The Wooden Sky accomplished just this – providing music that a listener can get lost in while dancing up a storm.
Read more at www.theontarion.com for a long-form interview with Absolutely Free.