Bear In Heaven Blouse Doldrums May 5, 2012 The Garrision, Toronto

‏@IKvsDK: Doldrums, Blouse, and Bear in Heaven #garrison After suffering through another Toronto FC loss on Saturday I reconciled my evening with some pulled pork poutine at the Lakeview and a stop at the Garrison for the Bear In Heaven show. I was actually there for Blouse and Bear In Heaven as an added bonus.

Got to the Garrison alittle too early (9:00) to hear Blouse doing Soundcheck. I relagated myself to the front bar in the Garrison. The venue has recently revised its layout to half concert venue/half Ossington hipster bar with IPOD dj in the front. Nobody was in the hipster bar either so grabbed a Grid and a beer and chilled. My company for the night Panic Manual had bailed on me so was taking this on solo.

Doldrums started at about 10:00 so I figured this was going to be a late night. I was super impressed with the cut and paste sound of the Doldrums which tonight was one person on keyboards and vocals. I'd heard some tracks via the internet and it hadn't really done much for me. May need to revisit.
 

Up next was Blouse which are a super hip eighties alternative gothic sounding band out of the USA on Captured Tracks. Panic Manual had seen them down at SXSW and had set my expectations very low. Maybe thats why I enjoyed their low key set which included the great singles Shadow and Into The Black.

Finally at about 11:45, Bear In Heaven hit the stage . Lead singer Jon Philpot encouraged us to get up and join his dance party as the band went through a solid set of mesmorizing high energy indie electro pop. Joe Stickney (1/2 drum machine, 1/2 human) took drumming to the next level. The band is currently out supporting their superbad album I Love You, It's Cool which is definately worth picking up. I have a feeling that if this band can add a few more songs to the playlist, reorder the energy of their set, this band will be playing venues like the Sound Academy, or the Phoenix next.

This is what they said on Twitter:

Doldrums

@IKvsDK Doldrums. Pretty good. One guy. Thought it was a woman singing until I put on my glasses. #garrison ‏

@tianafeng: Doldrums!! A tad bizarre hahahaha

@IKvsDK: Doldrums #cut #paste #nice #garrison Blouse

Blouse

‏@joahspearman: About to get treated to my second serving of @BearInHeaven & @BLOUSE in 2 weeks!! I'm liking this #Austin #Toronto #livemusic connection.

@IKvsDK: Blouse taking the stage #garrison #capturedtracks #new4AD

@IKvsDK: Blouse just put on a nice dark set at the garrison #capturedtracks #toronto

@KDahlinNolan: #Blouse was fantastic at the Garrison tonight! Looking forward to discovering more about them. Also, fave new drummer = #BearInHeaven

@Blouse Toronto loves weed. (IKDK: No, our drug of choice is Captured Tracks)

Bear In Heaven

@IKvsDK: Bear In Heaven #11:30 #garrison #yawning #waiting

@jamiesoncox: Bear in Heaven's drummer is very impressive, and their lead singer is equally hilarious.

@IKvsDK: Bear In Heaven's lead singer exudes rock star. Fantastic show #garrison

@jamiesoncox: Bear in Heaven's drummer is simply excellent. I don't have a pithy comment for him.
‏
@StephDuce: Bear in heaven at @TheGarrisonTO #toronto #band #show #igtoronto #igers #ignation #dance #party...

‏@InsidiousGhost: Cool beats from Bear in Heaven last night in Toronto. Freaking awesome show!

Search the blog for video reviews of Bear In Heaven and Blouse tracks.