Love Is All and Crystal Stilts @ the Horseshoe, Toronto
- Dec 19, 2008
Bringing along a so-called "buzz band" on tour with you can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, the extra attention and attendance their presence will bring can only benefit the show's profile and success. But on the other hand, if people are only coming out for the support act, it can be embarrassing for the headliner to end up playing for a smaller crowd than their tourmates. Case in point, last week's visit from Sweden's Love Is All at the venerable Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. Though they'd just followed up "Nine Times That Same Song", the album that made them a band du jour in 2005 with the arguably superior "A Hundred Things Keep Me Up at Night", almost all of the advance press about the show focused on the undercard for the night, Brooklyn's Crystal Stilts. Their primitive Joy Division-meets-Velvets-meet-Spector drone pop is very much in vogue and the extra gossip angle of their drummer Frankie Rose having left equally buzzy New York outfit Vivian Girls under less than amicable circumstances was irresistible to local music scribes.
But talk is just that, and when it comes down to it, the show is the thing. And in that department, Love Is All had nothing to worry about. To call the Crystal Stilts live experience underwhelming is something of an understatement. Playing standing, Moe Tucker style, Rose ably kept the backbeat while guitarist JB Townsend contributed simple, twangy guitar lines but singer Brad Hargett utterly failed to engage as a frontman. Standing in shadow with eyes closed, the monotone vocal approach that may have been mysterious and compelling on record just sounded lost and bored on stage. Exacerbating matters was the sea of reverb in which he was submerged ⓠagain, effective on record but crippling in performance.
Love Is All, conversely, exceeded all expectations in delivering a raucous barrage of utterly dancey and jaggy New Wave coated with pure pop sugar. While their recorded works are a study in sonic anarchy, their live show came served with a surprising amount of tightness and polish without losing any of their manic edge ⓠno mean feat. Frontwoman Josephine Olausson set the tone, abusing keyboard and cowbell whilst hollering and yelping gleefully through oughta-be hits like "Wishing Well" and a wonderfully unhinged cover of Flock Of Seagulls' "I Ran". Though their set barely clocked in at 40 minutes, the Gothenburg quintet didn't let up for a second and no matter what had gone before, there would be no calling this night a disappointment. Sure, maybe it helps to bring a hip up-and-comer along on tour to get tongues wagging, but when it comes down to it, Love Is All you need.
