The London Souls
Black Sheep stage
Reviewed Saturday
He’s doubtless used to playing this way, but more than one audience member must have wondered if Tash Neal was about to achieve a literal liftoff during his raging guitar solo in The Sound. Channelling psychedelia as it’s rarely channelled, Neal reminded us just how wild an instrument the electric guitar can be.
Along with singer/drummer Chris St. Hilaire (another man who believes dispassionate music is highly overrated) and bassist Stu Mahon (he’s the Rock of Gibraltar, albeit a deeply bearded one, in the group), Neal tore through one ravishing guitar lead after another as the New York City-based power trio referenced Merseybeat, Cream and more, all served up in a gritty contemporary American rock package.
Under Control, part of Saturday’s lineup, spotlighted Beatlesque harmonies. Another number meshed bits of the Who’s Magic Bus with the Beatles’ Get Back; it’s unlikely either of the songs have ever been played with quite the crunching fury these three bring to them.
Lady Gaga was getting ready to play the main stage just as the London Souls were winding down, and the crowd pretty much disappeared as a result. Those who left shouldn’t count on making up by downloading the group’s albums: they’re good but don’t hold a candle to the boys’ live performance.
On the Claridge Homes stage, JJ Grey & Morpho opened just a few minutes before the London Souls did. Lead singer JJ Grey was in fine Joe Cocker-like voice as he and the rest of his kick-ass Florida band served up a bracing dish of southern rock, blues and soul. Hide & Seek and the soulful Brighter Days were on the set list.
“I live my life with a confident doubt,” sang Kalle Mattson at the Claridge Homes stage in the early afternoon. The line is from the Ottawa-based folk/roots musician’s song Avalanche and pretty much captures what the 23-year-old’s music — and presumably the man himself — is about: a blend of ambivalence and certainty, trepidation and determination.
That mix, a reasonable one in a crazed world, extends to Mattson’s vocals. His voice, occasionally reminiscent of Josh Ritter’s, is appealingly young and vulnerable, but the biting tone in songs like Hurt People Hurt People (on Saturday’s set list) gives his delivery its emotional roundness.
Couple all this with the darkness that creeps through his basically optimistic lyrics, the textured arrangements — his trumpet player JF Beauchamp brings a sense of ceremony to many tunes — and the post-modern irony that is his heritage (“I hope my outfit compares to Lady Gaga’s,” said the nondescriptly dressed Mattson), and you’ve got one solid performer.
One senses, however, that something’s still struggling to emerge from his music. When it does, watch out.
Mattson’s latest album Someday, The Moon Will Be Gold, which formed a chunk of Saturday’s show, has made the Polaris Music Prize long list. He’ll find out if he’s made the short list on July 15.
She’s the One Winner Announced
Emma Peckford, a 15-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist from Corner Brook, Nfld, is the winner of this year’s She’s the One Emerging Female Artist Competition, Bluesfest organizers announced on Saturday.
The competition is a cross-Canada talent search for the best in emerging female music talent. This year the search focused on teenagers.
Peckford, who beat out nine other finalists, wins a career-building trip to Los Angeles that includes a recording session and a music video.
