Gigs This Week: Leif Vollebekk, Charlotte Day Wilson at Massey Hall

By Will McGuirk

Leif Vollebekk at Massey Hall Friday, June 17 2022. Tickets here.

Charlotte Day Wilson at Massey Hall Saturday, June 18 2022. Tickets here.

Radio Zetgeist: best of new vinyls include Charlotte Cornfield, Lady Blackbird, Charlotte Day Wilson, Yard Act and more

By Will McGuirk

The world has been walking this tightrope between hyper-local and hyper-global for over two years, its been a time of contempt and contemplation and all of it is explored in ‘Highs in the Minuses’, the new album from Charlotte Cornfield due out on vinyl January 28.

“We are not supposed to go outside/ the stores are all closed/ Never seen this city so dead and so morose/ its a crisis but we haven’t got the words” she sings on ‘“Headlines” which kicks of this week’s showcase.

Fortunately Charlotte has the words and the chords to put this earthly experience in to some sort of context.

‘Black Acid Soul’ - Experience, colour, sound, chemistry - its all here in the debut album from Lady Blackbird. From the psyche of Nina Simone to the psychedelia of Alice Coltrane, its a swirling sorrowful, mesmerizing trip with the voice of Marley Munroe holding the centre.

There’s an acid burn to the voice of TO R&B artist Charlotte Day Wilson. that gets straight but so deliciously slowly to the heart. Her debut ‘Alpa’ drops this week and wrapping these songs up in the even warmer tones of wax may just be the tonic this winter needs.

Across the pond Leeds band Yard Act join the accented chorus of the speak-easys Dry Cleaning, Wet Leg, Billy Nomates; angular jocular gong songs going for the jugular. More than three’s a crowd in any scene but Yard Act are defo no pretenders to the new Brit home grown, they are of it. Line them up with Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, Pulp, and yips Sleaford Mods.

Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Chastity, Cots, Kyla Charter, Ellen Froese, Charlotte Day Wilson, Begonia, Rachel Bobbitt, Wet Leg, and Sam Weber,

By Will McGuirk

“It's about the feeling of not being heard, and just wanting to escape the cycle of thought - planning your next move, and thinking and thinking about what you could say to make them hear and understand you.” - Ellen Froese

“I was taught to believe that there was always a right or wrong and beyond that, that there was a heaven and hell waiting for us after we die and we just had to live our lives accordingly to end up in either place. I had a lot of fear of screwing up and a lot of fear of the unknown. As I've grown, all of those binary ways of thinking have more or less been shattered.” - Begonia

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Slowcity.ca Open Mic with Chastity, Ekelle, Charlotte Day Wilson, Ada Lea, Joy Crookes, Alex Cuba, Fleece, Graham Wright, Talleen, Mary Jennings, Jon Stancer, and Rise Carmine,

Ekelle

By Will McGuirk

“‘When You Were Mine’ is a song I wrote about an ex-partner that ended up being with a man after we broke up. It’s a song about accepting their love, but wishing the same for myself. I wrote it with the backdrop of Brixton because that is where their love unfolded and where I spent a lot of my childhood. We recorded a brass section (it was my first time recording brass and excited was an understatement); we wanted it to sound messy so Japanese whiskey was involved and listening to lots of Ebo Taylor.” - Joy Crookes

“My social media feeds are crammed with dire and insistent warnings from scientists, experts and activists, and newsreels showing floods, fires, hurricanes and other horrific, climate related catastrophes. All of this chatter and imagery were swirling around in my head at the time of writing this song.” - Jon Stancer

“We wanted to reflect how our society can sometimes be shrouded in mystery and symbolism, money being the driving force behind the illusion.” - Alex Crow, Talleen

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