Jeen‘s stage banter was rather timely during her Thursday night show at the Horseshoe, making reference at one point to the recent legalization of cannabis. “Everyone smoking more pot?” she asked before adding, “All I know is it’s completely messed up my purchasing.” It’s not like Jeen was revealing any big secret about herself though – “Medicate Me”, a song off of the Toronto singer’s latest album which she’s described as “an ode to introverts,” touches on the topic of marijuana and “weed therapy.”
That new album, Gift Shop, was mixed by Toronto music legend Ian Blurton, who also lent his talents as a member of Jeen’s live band. I’ll admit Blurton’s involvement was a bit of a draw for me – the guy’s always entertaining to see live – although he kept things relatively subdued and kept any of his trademark shredding to a minimum. And while he did let loose on occasion, the focus for the night was squarely on the songs themselves.
And Jeen’s songs sounded pretty good, despite her announcement at the outset that she couldn’t really hear anything in her monitor. “We’ll just go with the flow,” she said, and that flow took Jeen and her band through a series of songs that ran the gamut from the danceable “Won’t Be Long Now” to the driving rock of “Any Moment” and set highlight “Pull Out Your Knives.” All in all, a show worth leaving the house for on a rainy Thursday night.