Day 3 – M for Montreal // She Devils Casa Del Popolo

Day 3 (November 20) here at M for Montreal saw the festival blast into full party mode. As the venue list grew, so did the lineups. Here’s a taste of what was going on last night: Loud Lary Ajust, Eman & Vlooper, Jazz Cartier, Bizzarh at Le Metropolis; The OBGMs, Le Trouble, Sate, Dead Messenger, Modern Space at Divan Orange; Alex Calder, Moon King, She-Devils at Casa Del Popolo – a venue where, in my books, taking photos is a so-called, unspoken faux-pas; no selfies or videos there – just pure music; Hua Li, Technical Kidman, Look Vibrant, Nancy Pants, Gulfer, Po Lazarus at Bar le Ritz PDB; The Dears, We Are Monroe at Fairmount Theatre; Foxtrott at the Phi Centre; Hudson Mohawke, Jacques Greene at Société des arts technologiques – just to name a few.

She-Devils, the Montreal duo, are just about the “it” act to discover and go see. They’ve made quite a huge impression, and have amazed a pretty sizable following in their hometown. Not to mention they’ve just released a video for their undeniably wonderful single “Come,” have an EP on the way, and have the backing of Majical Cloudz’s own, Devon Welsh. In other words, go listen to some of the music (i.e. their single “Come”) they have out, and catch them at a show if you can.

The relatively new duo manage to pull off a post-retro vibe with – especially to fill their hour-ish long set last night – a lot of ‘60s style samples, mixed and mashed to put on a pretty electric show. Especially on “Come” – or rather, most of their songs feature the light, but powerful vocals of singer Ann Audrey, over fluid, surf rock, synth strewn samples. However, an awkward Ann Audrey seemed to not know what to do between breaks of Kyle Jukka’s instrumentals. By the shows end, and the elegantly executed “Come”, the young duo seemed to rectify everything; lining up their live performance with their simple and magnetic music.

To finish off the festival Grimes plays Le Metropolis with Nicole Dollanganger as support. It’s a sold-out show and limited to first come, first serve for press. So I’ll try to head out, like, right now. Fingers crossed! Oh and P.S. there is also an official Grimes after party; special “secret” guests: Lunice and Grimes (no surprise there!).

review by Sean Carlin