MENOMENA + Land Of Talk @ Main Hall

By Katie Seline - Wrong Side of the Bed - 03/25/2007

The end of semester turns me into a total moron. Plagued by papers and craziness I was hesitant to make the 45-minute-plus trip up to Main Hall for this show. Knowing the editor of this magazine would fly back from Germany and destroy me if I didn’t make good on my commitment I headed on up to the show anyway. Too bad I did so on the wrong night. Heads up kids, March 25th was on Sunday, not Saturday. Yay me.

Attempt Number Two on the correct day of the week was well worth the mumbling and grumbling from yours truly. Playing a near sold out show at Main Hall, Land of Talk and Menomena kicked the musical pants off of the weary and monotone crowd. Unfortunately I missed openers Field Music but arrived just in time for local band Land Of Talk. Fronted by the lovely and charming Elizabeth Powell, Land of Talk took the stage and provided some good tunes and good times paired with witty banter and an all-around fun persona. The band is really having fun with what they’re doing and in their incessant tuning and self-criticism, they really don’t take themselves too seriously. Matching this attitude up with some quality musicianship really made their set refreshing compared to a lot of shows that I have seen lately, where the band is simply all too serious in their quest for perfect sound and performance.

On that note, my only criticism of the show up until that point was the sound. For the first couple of songs Powell’s lyrics got lost in instruments that were coming through way too loud. I’ve always had the attitude where if it’s too loud, you’re too old, but it is Powell’s lyrics and voice that really carry this band. Without them, the same level of quality just wasn’t there. Once this was sorted out the band seemed to relax into their music and played some solid "new" tracks and a few of Powell’s older tracks, thrilling my friend who had brought along Powell’s first album on cassette for her to sign. Cassette, kids, remember those? In any case it was really nice to see someone so excited about a local band that was not Arcade Fire for a change. I don’t feel like I see that enough in this city.

When I first heard Menomena’s newest album Friend & Foe, I was pretty sure they were TV On The Radio. Turns out they weren’t and that they, in my opinion, are going to give TV On The Radio a bit of a run for their money. Opening the show with the single off the album, "The Pelican", Menomena dominated the weary and previously unresponsive crowd with a tight sound and great attitude. Knowing how many people were in the band (three) and seeing how many instruments were on the stage, I knew that this was going to be good. I’m talking around seven guitars, keyboards, two different kinds of xylophones, a lap top, drums, alto and tenor sax, a whole lot of pedal action that I don’t understand, shakers, sleigh bells -- you name it, they were playing it, each musician alternating between two to four different instruments throughout any given song. This alone was impressive. Also enjoyable was the fact that each member of the band took lead vocals on various songs. This made for amazing harmonies as well when they all banded together.

Since the show, I’ve read on Montreal Stillepost several complaints about the sound, similar to what I was mentioning above. I was fortunate enough to be right in front of the stage where this wasn’t a problem, but am questioning now whether or not my amazement at all the instruments overruled my judgement on the sound. In retrospect the amount of time that the band took to set up and sound check everything should have correlated into amazing sound. I’m realizing now that it did not. This is unfortunate for both bands as both were really great in the first place; I can only imagine what they should have sounded like.

Regardless of the questionable sound, the show went off without a hitch and was all-around enjoyable to watch. The band had excellent presence and held my fading attention for the whole show. They even got me dancing a little bit. Menomena closed the show with an entertaining encore, poking fun at Pearl Jam with a blend of one of their own songs. The hilarity of this alone made the trip up to Main Hall for the second time well worth it. Menomena may have a lot of the same qualities musically as TV On The Radio, but they certainly bring a whole other league to the ball game.

[Tune in to Wrong Side Of The Bed every Wednesday from 5pm to 7pm.]