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TUNNG – Casa Del Popolo – 11.15.10

November 18, 2010 in Show Reviews

Experimental-pop-folk group Tunng took everyone by surprise Monday night at Casa Del Popolo. Tunng has managed to push the boundaries of both pop and experimental music, while keeping them mellifluously blended at the same time. Their catchy, yet unique, sounding songs have gotten people in Montreal excited to see them perform live. The venue was ridiculously overpacked and a number of eager fans had to be turned away.

Upon entering Casa’s small room where the stage was set, the heat was on the brink of unbearable, and the lack of space lead many to become instantly claustrophobic. Though, putting the overwhelming heat and lack of leg room aside, the performance Tunng gave was worth every second of discomfort. The show started with “Don’t Look Down or Back” from their latest LP And Then We Saw Land. Front man Mike Lindsay grasped the crowd’s attention right from the getgo. It was clear that this talented guy belongs on stage, and was truly in his element performing the whole night through. The song that struck out was “It Breaks”, which is also featured on their latest release. The amazing harmony between Mike Lindsay and backup singer Becky Jacobs’ voices felt naturally orchestrated- it was simply beautiful. Most songs performed were straight off their latest LP, but fortunately they did leave a bit of space in the set for some of their older tunes such as “A Tale From Black” and “Take”. Lindsay added a bit of extraneous theatricals, though many were too engaged in the music to really care. Regardless, it gave an absurd quality to the show which matched the overall ambiance nonetheless. Many people in the audience anticipated one song in particular, which was repeatedly requested throughout the show’s awkward pauses. Tunng managed to keep the anticipation high right until the very end, when they played the long awaited song “Bullets”, which got the crowd cheering. They left the stage with the crowd still high on lively energy, while trying to make their way through the tightly packed venue. As expected, they took stage once more for an encore, which started with an impromptu French song (which we locals could barely understand). Even though it sounded like jibjab, the effort was cute.The last song of the night, “Woodcat” from Comments of the Inner Chorus, wrapped up the show beautifully.

As the last note died in the room, the sudden realization of heat came back, as did the discomfort. It was quite a relief when we left the crowded venue, and continued to relive some of Tunng’s magical moments by whispering lyrics from Bullets all the way home. -Camille Gervais