FRESH SNOW with BILLY MOON at the Horseshoe, Wednesday, March 22. Rating: NNN
Fresh Snow shows tend to be teeth-rattlers, full of explosive guitar noise and transcendent tsunamis of synth sounds all held down and shaped by propulsive, locked-in bass and drums. Perhaps due to their being instrumental, the four members of the Toronto experimental band also tend to bring along some visual and/or interactive elements: projections, screens, fog, lights. Once they played in pods. Another time they led the audience to a different room partway through the set.
Tanja-Tiziana
Fresh Snow at the Horseshoe Tavern.
They took a much more straightforward approach to their live show at their Horseshoe debut on Wednesday night, opening for Hamilton punk-tinged surf band Billy Moon. Two keyboard set-ups faced each other, with guitarist/keyboardist Tim Condon busy at one and bassist/keyboardist Andy Lloyd equally busy at the other, bathed in the venue’s unchanging red lights. Jon Maki consistently dazzled from behind the drum kit, while guitarist Brad Davis broke into a brief fit of guitar heroics halfway through the set, axe held high as he reached toward the ceiling to flick a miniature disco ball.
Tanja-Tiziana
Fresh Snow at the Horseshoe Tavern.
Despite the large effects pedalboards at Condon and Davis’s feet, the show lacked a certain unhinged noise and chaos we’ve come to expect from Fresh Snow. It seemed less abrasive and tidier, enhanced by the fact that each member was starkly visible. Most of the songs, drawn from 2013’s I, 2015’s Won and 2016’s One, unfurled slowly (particularly Olinda, which opens One), and sometimes a rollicking section came to a close just as things were moving close to transcendence (I Can’t Die).
The performance still proved Fresh Snow are one of the loudest bands in Toronto – a monitor gave up the ghost and thudded right off the front of the stage just as they hit their final notes.
carlag@nowtoronto.com | @carlagillis
