Mercifully tented, the OLG stage was the place to be on a stormy Monday night; shielding from the elements, incubating the jazz. The 7:30 slot saw Montreal's Little Animal! make their Ottawa debut, and they shuffled on to the stage like a bunch of scruffy Juilliard dropouts — if you were cool, you were totally here for it. Preemptively apologizing at one point for the weirdness of their music, there was definitely some awkward jazz nerd energy from these guys, shot through with a healthy dose of Whiplash-style haughtiness that was frankly their due — there was a piquant aroma in the air, and it wasn't a Quebec forest fire: authenticity.
Melding effects-laden soundscapes with gorgeous pedal steel leads (courtesy of Joe Grass, who also whipped out a proper six-string for some angular soloing from time to time) and haunting horns, the group was led by Morgan Moore on electric bass, who presided from behind a battery of pedals and controllers. Drummer Tommy Crane had a huge chunk bitten out of one of his crash cymbals too, adding to the student vibe.
It was an amorphous set, without much talking or introduction but full of peeling horn calls and striking textures (especially the revving engine sound Grass was able to get out of his pedal steel), programmed arpeggios emerging from roiling soundscapes and spacey desert vibes. At one point saxophonist Lex French met up with Grass's steel to create what sounded like freight train horns passing in the distance, and as the rain pounded away on top of the OLG tent it was an evocative moment.
Perhaps a bit too challenging for some — there were what seemed like a few pointed walkouts during an extended intro made up of looped squelches and bleeps coaxed from Moore's bass via his many pedals — but for every abstract moment or dissonant guitar slash, there was an excellent bass groove (you know he listens to Squarepusher), or a particularly sprawling pedal steel passage. The latter always added an expansive, late-night desert vibe to their already unique sound.
The crowd may have thinned a bit by the end of their set, but for those who remained, Little Animal! were likely one of the coolest and most interesting acts on the lineup so far, doing the kind of important experimental work that keeps the jazz spirit burning. A cerebral evening.
Melding effects-laden soundscapes with gorgeous pedal steel leads (courtesy of Joe Grass, who also whipped out a proper six-string for some angular soloing from time to time) and haunting horns, the group was led by Morgan Moore on electric bass, who presided from behind a battery of pedals and controllers. Drummer Tommy Crane had a huge chunk bitten out of one of his crash cymbals too, adding to the student vibe.
It was an amorphous set, without much talking or introduction but full of peeling horn calls and striking textures (especially the revving engine sound Grass was able to get out of his pedal steel), programmed arpeggios emerging from roiling soundscapes and spacey desert vibes. At one point saxophonist Lex French met up with Grass's steel to create what sounded like freight train horns passing in the distance, and as the rain pounded away on top of the OLG tent it was an evocative moment.
Perhaps a bit too challenging for some — there were what seemed like a few pointed walkouts during an extended intro made up of looped squelches and bleeps coaxed from Moore's bass via his many pedals — but for every abstract moment or dissonant guitar slash, there was an excellent bass groove (you know he listens to Squarepusher), or a particularly sprawling pedal steel passage. The latter always added an expansive, late-night desert vibe to their already unique sound.
The crowd may have thinned a bit by the end of their set, but for those who remained, Little Animal! were likely one of the coolest and most interesting acts on the lineup so far, doing the kind of important experimental work that keeps the jazz spirit burning. A cerebral evening.
