WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: Depth behind Bend Sinister
Those of you who saw the disappointing Rihanna show on Wednesday can take solace in the fact that for the price of your one ticket, you can probably take at least half a dozen of your best friends to any of local show this weekend.
Or maybe that doesn’t make you feel better.
One of the bands you might want to check out is playing the Pawn Shop on Saturday night. Bend Sinister, a progressive-indie band from Vancouver, is no stranger to our province, having performed at New City last September in support of their 2012 album “Small Fame.” They also performed in Calgary during last year’s Sled Island festival, their third trip to the festival.
Their sound is definitively rock, but blends a number of influences together exceptionally well, and has more substance and depth than the traditional forms: Not as hard as metal, the music is built on roiling guitars and some subtle keyboard textures, held together with exceptional melodies. It all combines to make an alluring act both on record and live.
Frontman Daniel Moxon studied film in college, so it’s no surprise the band’s name has an interesting subtext – taken from the title of a 1947 dystopian novel from Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov about a fictional European city named Padukgrad where the idea of anyone being different from anyone else is highly discouraged, and the state is seen as the prominent good in society. There may be a message here.
Opening acts include Owls By Nature and Daniel And the Impending Doom. Doors are at 8pm. Tickets are $10 and on sale at YEG Live.
Don’t forget that Mumford and Sons tickets go on sale next week. If you want to try for the pre-sale, you need to register at the band’s website.
Friday
Sorels – This local psychedelic folk band plays an “LP release party” for its debut album, “Daylight” – which may just be one of the best albums to come out of an Edmonton band so far this year – at The Artery, 8 pm, $10.
No Heat Tomorrow – This local alt-metal band is also hosting a release party. The Order Of Chaos, Secret Rivals, and Elements also perform. Pawn Shop, 8 pm, $12.
Armifera – Another Edmonton act dives deep into guttural depths of thrash metal, basing their sound off the 80’s Bay Area thrash scene and combining it with more modern melodies. Mortillery and Domitian are also on the bill. Rendezvous Pub, 8 pm, $10 at the door.
Doldrums – Airick Woodhead’s electrosynth act is touring as a trio in the midst of an epic North American run that basically finds them looping around the continent about two and a half times. With Sean Nicholas Savage, Agor, and Ghibli. Wunderbar, 9 pm, $12.
Saturday
Counted Among Saints – The more metal the better. The Resistance, Skyline, Shadows Of Columbus, and Landfish in another expected epic evening. Avenue Theatre, 6 pm, $15.
Little Big Town – This country band’s two founders Kimberly Roads and Karen Fairchild first met while attending Samford University in the state of Alabama; they later moved to Nashville where they currently reside. Since first forming in 1998, all four members of the quartet have remained the same, throughout a five albums and two Country Music Awards. Winspear Centre, 8 pm, $51.50.
