At last night’s showcase from Arts and Crafts, one of Canada’s all-star labels, driven by Broken Social Scene and friends, the music scene of the Great North was a buzzin’.
The standout act, which came second on the bill, was without a doubt Timber Timbre. The cutely named duo from Toronto began its set by looping the sound of crickets, while strings softly poured over the samples. It was a drastic shift to low tempo from the consistently rock energy of the show, but Timber Timbre’s powerfully dark, even eerie folk tracks managed to keep the crowd astonishingly quiet and positively awed. Each member of the trio was seated, concentrating intensely on their instruments. Softly spoken frontman Taylor Kirk’s voice, strikingly similar to that of Devendra Banhart, dominated the room. The soft accompaniments and experimental sounds (like birds chirping during the last track) added a layer of strangeness and beauty over Kirk’s guitar, kick drum and vocals. When Timber Timbre’s set concluded, a few wows were echoing throughout the audience. Click past the jump for Rubik, Still Life Still, Hollander and Zeus.

The opener, Rubik, the only non-Canadian band of the evening, and Still Life Still both sounded like members of the Broken Social Scene’s extended family. And that’s not meant as a reproach—it was, after all, an Arts and Crafts showcase. Both bands had a noisy melodic quality to them and both played high-energy sets. Rubik was particularly thrilling to watch with their constantly changing repertoire of instruments (keyboards, tambourines and horns all changed hands).

Second to last, Zeus played a set of tight, hard rock not so far off from Queens of the Stone Age (and it takes some balls to cover “That’s All” by Genesis.) And finally, Hollander brought the soiree to a close with a rousing mix of raspy vocals and sing-along wig-outs.—Josh Frank