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So, last night I checked out two bands as my kickoff to Canadian Music Week. ohbijou opened the show, and singer Casey joked that they were in fact the only Canadian band on the bill at Mod Club - the other two would kickoff a somewhat Scandinavian theme that peppers the rest of CMW’s showcases in the days to follow. ohbijou are ridiculously sweet. Very delicate, optimistic and heartwarming music, and they sounded great in a setting like Mod Club.

My craving for a starchy bagel trumped my desire to stick around for Swedish singer Frida Hyvonen - so we sneaked away for an hour to grab something to eat and then returned promptly for the start of Under Byen’s set.

Earlier when I asked Jeff to describe Under Byen (try your best to pronounce it “Oh Nah Boon”), he was at a loss to compare them to anything he’d ever heard. “They’re Danish,” he said. That was all I needed to hear to know I’d likely love them. No doubt that Danish music rocks (think The Raveonettes, Mew, Annie, Aqua, etc.)!

Under Byen’s set was just…majestic - HUGE sound, lighting effects, arty backdrop, multi-talented instrumentalists (a cellist, violin player, a saw, harmonica, TWO drummers, bass player) and the singer’s voice oscillated between imitations of Beth Gibbons (Portishead), Bjork and Angela McCluskey (Télépopmusik).

Chromewaves described last night’s set as “sonically devastating” and I totally agree. Simply GORGEOUS! And the music built up and built up until it hit this sprawling, awesome crescendo - no one wanted it to end and an encore was demanded. After the final song, the band came together for a very Scandinavian-inspired bow.

Go listen to their music now-ish, or perish in a ball of fiery flames.

Posted on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 10:19 am by Kat and is filed under Blog.

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