CATE LE BON at the Horseshoe, Monday, May 2. Rating: NNNN
Cate Le Bon’s Crab Day album combines metallic post-punk riffage with folky melodies in disorienting and even frustrating ways. The Los Angeles-based Welsh art rocker played the record – released last month on Drag City – in its entirety at her tour kickoff at the Horseshoe with a toughness that grounded her falsetto in hard-scrabble reality.
The clashing sound stems from the album’s thematic conflict. Le Bon has described Crab Day as being about oppositional perceptions between two people, so although her scratchy post-punk sound is a familiar one, it didn’t feel superficial in the slightest.
Sporting the theatrical eyeliner she wears on the record sleeve and overgrown bangs partially obscuring her eyes, Le Bon had a deceptively deadpan presence. But if her face emitted an air of detachment, her guitar playing did not.
Her three-piece band included a drummer, bass guitarist and guitarist/keyboardist, and when the guitars locked in clanging disagreement (especially on single Wonderful) the sound was both taut and chaotic, recalling the upending post-punk of the Slits or Television. It was impressive to watch someone generate so much mayhem with such poise and precision.
kevinr@nowtoronto.com | @kevinritchie
