Another Canadian band, another nature-themed band name. The Acorn swung by Lee’s Palace Friday night to promote their new album. My favourite part about seeing bands I’m unfamiliar with live, is when I walk out of the show wanting to listen to all the songs again and again. This happened with The Acorn.
Firstly
A side note, between The National show I saw on Wednesday and The Acorn I’ve seen more plaid than at a John Deere convention. Real original guys.
Secondly
After the sea of plaid, the next thing that struck me about The Acorn is the dual percussionists, having two drummers always amazes me and they become very hypnotizing to watch. I was recently blown away by Caribou’s double drummer ensemble. I am not musically inclined whatsoever (like, at all) but I can imagine it difficult to coordinate two drummers. Without these two badass drummers The Acorn would be a little too sappy and folky for my liking, the percussion gives them some decent rock and roll cred.
Thirdly
Another cool part of this band is the presence of a banjo in most of the songs. My fellow concert goer (who also likened the frontman’s voice to Tom Petty, however, upon reflection I think they sound more likeBeirut minus all of the elaborate instruments) plays the banjo and has a serious penchant for this string instrument. The banjo really gives the slower songs a dreamy, romantic sound. For the encore The Acorn played Slippery When Wet from their new album, to me this was the highlight of the show and it reminded me a lot of Your Rocky Spine by Great Lake Swimmers (sigh, Tony Dekker). This song is just Rolf Klausener singing, backed only with the banjo and comes out sounding like a lullaby, indeed a great way to end the show. I now have this song on repeat, yeah, it’s sappy, folky and does not incorporate a badass drum beat…I still like it.
Lastly
The Acorn certainly didn’t blow me away with stage presence but I really enjoyed their unique indie folk sound and would gladly see them again live. In fact they are playing at the Guelph Hillside Festival next month…
The Acorn – Crossed Wires (Born Ruffians Remix) by Bella Union