AWmusic

Anya Marina

First up, Anya Marina. My friend had told me about this artist before we got to the venue. She researched the opening act on MySpace and liked her track “Move You” a lot. Anya came out to perform with her guitar to a track of beats, a 20 minute set. Her performance was solid. She wasn’t too eager to please, relaxed in her natural Southern Californian state. I enjoyed her performance enough to walk over and buy a CD “Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II” during the break. She has this sweet sound that’s smooth enough to chill, reminds me of Shivaree. She also had great stage presence that makes you pay attention.
Anya Marina – Move You (SSSPII)

Lissy Trullie

Lissy Trulie seems to have a growing fan base in Toronto. I was hearing whispers of her ‘new” haircut, how pretty she is in real life, and this is “my favourite” song. Yes, she is very cool, bad a$$ and pretty on stage…. and I really hate to be saying this in the same sentence, boring. She’s definitely talented, but her performance didn’t get me going. I like her voice and the music is good. But her stage presence wasn’t there… maybe it was an off night? Tired from the road trips? Or maybe it’s part of her “who cares” attitude? Regardless, of this factor, I recognize her talent and can see her potential for the future. I actually look forward to what she’ll be releasing in the future. I also really liked this performance of “Just A Friend” from YouTube. However, at the El Mocambo, her 40 minute set didn’t really make my night.

The Virgins

And finally, The Virgins. This performance was much better than the one at the Mod Club 4 months back. Really, I enjoyed both, but there was a clear improvement. First, no drinking on stage… lol… which I had stated last time, bothered me because his voice started cracking as he was drinking. This set was full of energy and the crowd was fuelled with enthusiasm, which I suspect pumped up the band even more. The set lasted just under an hour, including the 10 minutes encore. They seem to be way more comfortable performing this time around, changing up their music a bit and not overreaching to sound exactly like the record.

The Virgins – Love Is Colder Than Death

Something really funny happened that I have to share. A small group of people (2 girls & 1 guy to be exact) decided to be real jerks, shoved their way into the front and wanted to mosh during the Virgin’s encore. After a failed attempt to push their way around, the dude decided he wanted to dive into the crowd. Since most of us were already pissed off, we parted the way when he jumped. Yes, he ate pavement… and it was effing hilarious!!!! He was a jerk and he totally deserved it.

On Thursday night, I bought the Anya Marina CD from the artist herself. Check out the El Mocambo review which will be posted later. In person, I found her to be quite lovely in person, with a very sweet, childlike soft voice. Her stage persona is the same. I felt like most of the audience was quite taken by her, actually giving her attention considering she was the opening act. She’s lucky, the El Mocambo show had a late crowd, therefore at least 60-75% of the Virgins’ audience were already present to see her perform.

Anyway, my friend and I bought the CD Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II and listened to it on the ride home. It hasn’t really left my car’s CD player since then. I found her music to be very relaxing and yet engaging at the same time. It’s thoughtful, simplistic and lovely. She reminds me of the Laguna Beach setting: very southern California, very laid back, very privileged.

There is something a bit strange about listening to a childlike voice singing adult matters in a whisper. I’m not saying she’s not an adult. But, you rarely think of seductive tones in childlike tones, non? I would say she escapes the creepiness for most parts. Her voice is very much like Shivaree, whom I also like a lot.

The album starts with her single Move You, the song opens with the sweet acoustic guitar, then her voice begins. I like this song a lot, it starts slow and seductive (I guess), then moves into an uptempo beat. The track All The Same To Me uses the phrase iniminiminimo as part of the chorus. I swear, the first time I heard that (live), I was laughing. But then when I started listening to it at home, I realized it was cute and fit the topic of the song. One of my favourite songs on the album is Two Left Feet, where she sings about some kind of boy toy who goes back and forth. I also like the Bossa Nova style of Waters Of March.

This is an acoustic rock/pop album, definitely worth checking out. Music to relax to. Music to study to.

Anya Marina – All The Same To Me

Anya Marina – Two Left Feet.

Anya Marina – Move You (SSSPII).mp3