Blitzen Trapper

LeBreton Flats, Ottawa ON July 11

BY Daniel SylvesterPublished Jul 12, 2012

Looking about as dog-eared and wide-eyed as their music sounds, Blitzen Trapper made their Ottawa debut with an early evening performance on the Bluesfest's Electro Stage. Proving just how ambitious these Pacific Northwesterners have been over the last decade (releasing six LPs and two EPs in eight years), the five-piece loosened the spread-thin audience with their brand-new Record Store Day version of "Hey Joe."

Although mostly known for their mosaic musical approach -- blending alt-country, indie rock and Southern twang -- as a live unit, Blitzen Trapper come off nothing less than chaste and industrious. Receiving a glorious response from diehards with story-telling folkers "Furr" and "Black River Killer," vocalist Eric Early and multi-instrumentalists Erik Menteer pulled the rest of the onlookers on board with tremendous live guitar shredders like "Wild Mountain Nation" and "Fletcher."

Ending their set with lightning-speed solos and to thunderous applause, Blitzen Trapper gave the audience something rare and unique: a deeper, more lucid insight into their eclectic catalogue.

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