Christine Bougie and Dafydd Hughes

Toronto, ON stalwarts Christine Bougie and Dafydd Hughes form a cool guitar/keys/much more duo whose happenstance debut, This is Awesome, lives up to its title's playful boast. Booking shows without their regular rhythm section, noted guitarist Bougie and prolific keyboardist Hughes stumbled upon an intriguing dynamic, drawing beats and low-end foundational structures out of limitations. Likely best known in Canadian jazz and experimental music circles, they've also worked extensively with Feist and Amy Millan, and This is Awesome's vivid instrumentals betray an appreciation for pop fare and playful harmony. "They Only Have to Look Like Humans" moves with patience, as though framing a dramatic film's opening sequence, while the blend of processed percussion, teasing guitar lines and a chirpy melodica hook on "Baby Bird" recall something from Tortoise's TNT. Similarly, the joyful wandering of Torngat bleeds through "They Don't Have to Be Pretty" but there's intimacy between Bougie and Hughes' explorations that infuses This is Awesome with its distinctive charms.