Lo Siento

Lawnya Vawnya, St. John's NL, May 24

Photo: Matt Williams

BY Matt WilliamsPublished May 25, 2018

8
I'm not sure I've ever seen a band look as happy to be playing music as St. John's locals Lo Siento (literally Spanish for "I feel it," but most often used as "I'm sorry"). As Pepa Chan (guitar/vocals), Andrea McGuire (bass), and Alligita Graves (drums) took the stage, they spent some heart-warming time sharing huge grins with each other before jumping into their hyper-bouncy, high-energy jangle-pop.
 
Chan, who is originally from Buenos Aires, sings in Spanish in a wildly high-pitched and clear voice, sometimes almost resembling a slightly feral Joanna Newsom. At one point she turned to the crowd between tunes and said, "We have a sound, my friends and I, when we play. You can do it. We can do it together," and then she broke out into a cat-like scream, which the audience of course, giddily mimicked in response.
 
A song written shortly after Chan found out about the history of residential schools in Canada provided the most dynamic moments of the set, switching between gentle verses and heavier choruses, setting up for a gorgeous blast off of sound that was majorly unexpected. They closed the curtain on their set with a viciously dance-y tune featuring an endless stream of nananana's. Lo Siento needn't be sorry for anything. The Rockhouse crowd was certainly feeling it.

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