Celebrating Merival’s Lovers with Littlefolk and Drago Dit Dragon
On a night that generally calls for a raucous celebration of an Irish kind, music of a softer sort was permeating through the door of Van Gogh’s Ear in downtown Guelph. On March 17, 2016, the venue played host to Merival, Littlefolk, and Drago Dit Dragon. It was filled with a mix of folks who were there for the music and those just there to get their green on.
Drago Dit Dragon is the experimental folk-pop work of Toronto-based musician Matthew Drago. Although falling broadly under the umbrella of folk, there’s strangeness in the experimentation to keep the sound fresh and intriguing.
Littlefolk is a relatively new project in the Guelph scene and on this night it was a solo presentation from main man, Brandon Pearse. Littlefolk capitalizes on the latest tone craze in Canadian rock; a jangly chorus-drenched surf guitar with percussion sitting neatly in a pocket behind the groove. The live show would certainly benefit from some additional musicians to add some depth and rhythm, which you can hear the benefit of on Pearse’s first release Cats In The Bath. Pearse said he hopes to play with a band live in the near future and I suspect it would be a show worth seeing.
Merival finished off the night in what was now a bar that was way too loud for the music. Toronto’s Anna Horvath sings so gentle and serene that her music would be best suited to a silent concert hall. With hints of both The Weather Station and The Milk Carton Kids, Horvath’s vocals cascade over her gorgeous fingerstyle guitar playing. Her lyrics hold the listener’s attention with depth and layered meaning. It’s too bad a large part of the green-clad audience had no idea what they were missing. The show celebrated the release of Merival’s Lovers, an EP that is certainly worth a listen to capture all the unique subtleties of Merival’s song-writing ability.