Beyond Lee's Palace's graffiti-decorated façade lies a venue which was built as a concert hall first, and an alternative rock club second. A decent-sized stage dominates the room, with stacks of amplifiers lining its sides. With the exception of a handful of stools, a ledge running along the walls makes up most of the room's seating. In the absence of tables, thin railings that divide the room into sections provide a place to rest one's drinks. The bar, shoved in the rear corner, gives the impression that it was more an afterthought, as opposed to part of the original design. The venue is saved from its terminal minimalism by attracting some of today's most exciting independent artists, this evening playing host to Sunset Rubdown's debut performance in Toronto.
Wolf Parade or Sunset Rubdown? It was question posed to me by a Waterloo alumnus with whom I had entered into conversation after he had betrayed his Waterloo heritage through a seemingly innocuous order of a Waterloo Dark (sadly the bar did not carry it, minus 2 points). We debate each band's merits and pitfalls to the sound of the acoustic strumming and singing of "Will", the evening's unremarkable opener.
The above-posed question is almost inevitable when considering Sunset Rubdown, given Spencer Krug's association with Wolf Parade, but it occurred to me that making those sorts of comparisons is wholly unfair to the other members of the band. Spencer would coolly remind a "fan" later in the show that only one person on stage has connections with Wolf Parade, and that demanding to hear Wolf Parade songs is unreasonable and inappropriate. In similar fashion, treating Sunset Rubdown as some Wolf Parade spin-off in this review would be equally unjust.
The four-piece group began their set rather inconspicuously, choosing to open with a track from their self-titled EP. A rather redundant move at this point, it served only to continue to whet the audience's anticipation. When the following song, "Snakes Got a Leg III", began, the audience erupted in cheers of recognition and would retain their "I can't believe they're playing this song live!" attitude for the remainder of the evening. In return for the appreciation, Sunset Rubdown provided some brilliant music that, although quite faithful to recordings, remained engaging and never suffered from "Loud CD Listening" syndrome.
Role and/or instrument swapping seems to be a growing fad in indie bands these days, and Sunset Rubdown is no exception. After the first handful of songs, Mike Doerkson walked behind the drum set and relieved his lead guitar duties to until-now drummer Jordan Robson-Cramer. Robson-Cramer would proceed to dazzle onlookers aurally and visually with phenomenal displays of dexterity during "Winged/Wicked Things” and "Stadiums and Shrines II" before surrendering the guitar back to Doekerson and once again taking up position behind the drums. Camilla's xylophone added extra character to each song, but her whistling during "Us Ones In Between" suffered from a lack of proper amplification and was sadly lost among Doekerson's wooing guitar and Krug's mournful keyboard.
Rounding off Sunset Rubdown's rollercoaster-in-a-haunted-amusement-park sound was Spencer Krug's evocative yodeling voice. His subtler, less bombastic vocal performances - as can be found on "I'm Sorry I Sang on Your Hands That Have Been in the Grave", or "Swimming"- were unexpectedly stirring.
Disgusting as it was, nothing showed Krug's passion for the music more than the ridiculous amount of sweat rolling off his forehead - a not-so-hidden byproduct of his ardent performance. In a vain attempt to stem the flood, he tied a red sash of a towel around his forehead, but only succeeded in making himself look like a Kung Fu master with a killer moustache. Despite Krug's concern, this small "wardrobe malfunction" didn't cost him an ounce of credibility – after all, how could it? Sunset Rubdown's powerful performance was untouchable.
-Ludwik A. Sobiesiak
