I love shows with a diversity of artists whose music also meshes to create a superlative event. Last Saturday, Irene’s Pub hosted such a show – the release of the Drought EP by Ottawa IndieRock trio How Far To Mexico who invited local cosmic/psychedelic-rockers The Heavy Medicine Band and Waterloo experimental folk artist, JoJo Worthington to join them – which made for an evening of very fine eclectic and rockin-out music.
The club was already almost at capacity when JoJo Worthington stepped to the stage to perform selections from both her uniquely-titled albums, \\ and 7. Her opening piece, Abraham, combined, live on-stage, orchestral electronic strings and percussion which her seraphic soprano voice glided and pirouetted over, through, and around. Cold War, Werewolf, and Little Minstrel contrast this with ukelele and voice over subtle strings, percussion, and looped background vocals JoJo preprogrammed. The last two numbers returned to the styling of the first, with Alien closing JoJo’s exotic, ethereal set.
There is a mysterium that surrounds The Heavy Medicine Band, a tenebrous opalescent sublimnity to their compositions, overall sound, and vocals which converges on the edge of the otherwordly – the realms of the mescalin spirits and ayahuasca mists. Aspects of StonerRock, Desert, PsySpace, and Psychedelic permeate their music like errant aeolian zephyrs yet, Keturah Johnson, Rob Cooke, Sam Cooke, and Chris Di Lauro cannot be subject to any of the above limitations, for they are alchemic artists constantly recreating their musical lapis philosophorum on-stage and off.
From the initial tom beats and heavy echo guitar of the first number, Serpent, through Speak Light [dear one] and Pattern from their latest EP, Conduit, the combination of preternatural vocals, thaumaturgic guitar, deft polished bass, and percussive virtuosity deems that the term “mesmerizing” will never, forever, come even close to describing The Heavy Medicine Band.
(…the Moon and Me would be my choice)
The stars of the show? How Far To Mexico.
Catchy tunes and lyrics? …got ’em.
Crowd-connecting stage presence? …check!
Great songwriting? …you better believe it.
The perfect “summertime music“? …you betcha!
Jamieson Mackay (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Kieran Cantwell-Bowditch (bass) and Brian Wallin (drums), have written some excellent good-time, toe-tapping, “Psychidyllic Escapist Jingle-Jangle IndiePop” (…love this phrase) that is perfect for cruising down the road with the top of your convertible down or that late evening/night beach party or just dancing around in your livingroom with your socks off.
Opening their set with Long Time (Turn Away) then right into the opening song on their debut EP Drought, the swinging Fools, that has a great “discordant” bridge about two thirds the way through. This trio’s music kept the crowd at Irene’s Pub on their feet just dancin’ along to the band’s upbeat sound and inherent ability to connect to the audience. Cruising through the four tunes on their EP, like Heartbreaker (which ends with a bit of whistling), punctuated by other songs not yet recorded, How Far To Mexico are certainly an accomplished band and natural crowd-pleasers.
Jamieson, Brian, and Kieran are all very proficient adept musicians at ease on-stage when performering as well as connecting and mingling off-stage with, not only their fans, but everyone who attends their show. So…
…if you want some great summertime party music?
You can get it right here ⇒
How Far To Mexico > Bandcamp, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube
The Heavy Medicine Band > Bandcamp, Twitter, Facebook
JoJo Worthington > Website, Bandcamp, Twitter, Facebook
How Far To Mexico : Cruelest Month