Show review: Library Voices

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This first appeared at www.nxew.ca, where you're (hopefully) familiar with Russ's great spotlights and more.-- Yort

Library Voices: Everything you’ve heard is true.

It’s hard to live up to hype. So when breathless superlatives trail a band (“Exuded enough warmth to heat a single family dwelling”—Spinner; “Lush instrumentation and note-perfect performances”—Exclaim!) it’s best to check your expectations at the door, right?

Not if that band is Regina’s Library Voices. Currently on tour in support of their first full-length album, Denim on Denim, they lived up to the hype and then some at a June 26 show at Windsor’s intimate Phog Lounge.

Ever wonder about the meaning of the band’s somewhat enigmatic tagline, “Pop as fuck!”? It became pretty evident as bassist Eoin Hickey-Cameron, vocalist Carl Johnson and drummer Mike Thievin got on top of the bar, tables and the audience’s heart and soul while belting out the majority of Denim on Denim, punctuated by Michael Dawson’s endearing monologues (the “Drunk kids talking too openly and too honestly” part of the band’s self-assessment). They climaxed with a trio of hits—“Drinking Games,” “Kundera On The Dance Floor” and “Step Off The Map & Float”—followed by a post-pop-as-fuck cigarette in the form of an acoustic sing-along to the Beatles’ “Help.”

“I knew it would be fun,” commented the friend I brought along. “But I didn’t know it would be this much fun.”

Library Voices’ tour continues through July. Check them out at:
Big River, SK, Ness Creek Music Festival, 07/15-16/10, 8:00pm
Calgary, AB, Calgary Folk Festival, 07/22/10, 8:00pm
Toronto, ON, Harbourfront Centre, 07/25/10, 4:30pm