Cold Classics

Billed by some as "indie rockers who do classical night", Monday's Belle Orchestre/Clogs show was packed to Tonic's non-existent rafters. And like most people there, I came to hear something different from the musicians behind the bands I know (the Arcade Fire) and love (the National.)

Facts are, Clogs are a four piece group based out of Brooklyn featuring members of the National and one Australian. Mentioning that they have an Australian in the group will only make the Dirty Three comparison sound more lazy, but hey, like D3, Clogs play classically-focused and often dreamy instrumental music. Unlike the Dirty Three, they favor shorter songs and have a wider array of instruments with which they paint music. Most prominent in their sound is a blue-hued bassoon that colors their songs with a low, huffing voice. During last night's performance the rest of the instruments (mandolin, guitar, drums) added their individuated whispers, shouts and chirps to the conversation with excellent proficiency, but my attention clung to the bassoon throughout their 45-minute set. It might have just been the mood I was in, so I'm going to give their forthcoming Lantern LP a listen to see what else enters the picture in the weeks ahead.

Montreal's Belle Orchestre showed a greater range of moods and modulations in the material, which ranged from brass-driven cabaret-style numbers to sweeping string arrangements backed by cinematic percussion (boom, boom, boom, etc.) to more straight forward rock-ish songs. Sometimes the violins would weep just so and make you think the band was putting forth the sound of a Montreal winter, but Belle Orchestre are far more playful and multi-dimensional than that. They don't just lay on the melancholy, they swing and warble and splash too. Like their tour mates, they too have a record coming out soon. It's going to be called Recording A Tape The Colour Of The Light. Perhaps, like their live show, it will be a little bit blue, but also red and fuscia too. A nice departure from a day of purple I imagine...