SUUNS & JERUSALEM IN MY HEART, TECHNICAL KIDMAN, MIMICO and HOLY JAY as part of Sound Séance at Geary Lane, Saturday, June 13. Rating: NNNN
The second night of Invocation TO‘s Sound Séance I festival at Geary Lane started a bit late, but that meant there was already a decent crowd for the jazzy new wave of openers Jay Holy and the chugging drone rock of Mimico. Montreal’s Technical Kidman were much more emotionally intense than their name suggests, and put a lot of showmanship into their swirling psychedelic electronic pop.
The Toronto debut of the new collaboration between Montreal’s Suuns and Jerusalem In My Heart was easily the set of the night. Suuns on their own are a great synth punk band, but the addition of JIMH’s Radwan Ghazi Moumneh bumps things up to a whole new level, bringing an avant-garde approach to Middle Eastern influences into the mix. Together, their command of dynamics, rich textures and hypnotic rhythms made for a dramatic, memorable performance.
It’s clear from the strong turnout that there’s a lot of people in Toronto willing to head out to a desolate industrial strip to hear the kind of experimental rock that doesn’t fit in with the increasingly upscale downtown bar scene.
Due to zoning restrictions, the event was only able to happen thanks to the securing of a temporary permit. The city continues to debate how to handle the various DIY venues that have popped up in the Geary Avenue area, but at least council is starting to realize that it’s impractical and unrealistic to cluster nightlife in a tiny part of the downtown, especially as skyrocketing property values decimate the existing pool of adventurous live music venues.
benjaminb@nowtoronto.com | @benjaminboles
