Concert Review: Wintersleep, January 14, Drake Hotel

Wintersleep @ Drake Hotel, Toronto (January 14, 2016)
Photo by Sarah Rix

If I’m being honest, I’d almost forgotten about Wintersleep. By the band’s own admission, they hadn’t played Toronto in a while, probably during the tour behind their last album, Hello Hum, which came out back in 2012. Not that long ago, true, but as we’re inundated with more and more stuff at an increasingly faster rate, four years can seem like an eternity. And so the Halifax indie rockers were back in town and playing the Drake to preview their upcoming album (and first for Dine Alone records) The Great Detachment for those like me who needed reminding.

Taking to the stage promptly at 9:00, Wintersleep kept the talk to a minimum and focused on the music. And the new stuff sounds good, all of it a fair bit more upbeat than much of their earlier material, albeit still providing lots of opportunities for the band to stretch out musically. Several of the songs they played featured some nice synth work and one track in particular stood out with a pulsing krautrock beat.

Though the band did stick to playing only the new material, singer Paul Murphy mentioned that they’d be back in early March, so those really hoping to hear “Weighty Ghost” will just have to wait until then. They’ll also be playing SXSW in Austin this March and and will presumably make it onto the bills of many festivals across Canada this summer. Check out “Amerika,” the first single off of the album below:

Posted on by Paul in Concerts