Repping the home team hard at the jazz fest was singer Sarah Linhares. She's been a stalwart presence in soulful electronic music coming from Montreal over the years and here she put together a live show that drew on many communities in the cities. This was all the more fitting since this gig represented a goodbye for her as she decamps to Portugal for an indeterminate amount of time. The city's long running Kalmunity rhythm-arts collective was represented, producer Moonstarr was recording, Skinny Bros brought twin guitars into the mix and Martin Albino held it down on steel pan player for two intriguing new Future Falcon songs.
Her core band seemed undersized with just a laptop, drums, bass and keyboards but the sound was full nonetheless. Unlike certain other groups specially inflated for the bigger stages, Linhares' band proved that if you're doing it right the sound will expand to fill the space. The same could be said of her voice, which has sounded thin on record before but live she was a real pro. She squeezed the most out of her well-crafted songs and especially effective singing at full throttle, although some pitch problems were apparent.
She was clearly enthused to be on stage and had many friends in the crowd to help the vibe along. Highlights in the band were pace-setting drummer Anthony Pageot and the great sonic choices and soloing of David Ryshpan on keys. Experiments worked well, too, including the Bros' twin guitars on "Pura Vida," and the steel pan meets dubstep collisions of the Future Falcon material. Incoming rain affected the crowd's enthusiasm in the last quarter of the show, but the band was firing on all cylinders at that point and people stayed until the bitter end. All in all, a strong showing, which left the crowd no doubt hoping she'd be back in Montreal soon.
Her core band seemed undersized with just a laptop, drums, bass and keyboards but the sound was full nonetheless. Unlike certain other groups specially inflated for the bigger stages, Linhares' band proved that if you're doing it right the sound will expand to fill the space. The same could be said of her voice, which has sounded thin on record before but live she was a real pro. She squeezed the most out of her well-crafted songs and especially effective singing at full throttle, although some pitch problems were apparent.
She was clearly enthused to be on stage and had many friends in the crowd to help the vibe along. Highlights in the band were pace-setting drummer Anthony Pageot and the great sonic choices and soloing of David Ryshpan on keys. Experiments worked well, too, including the Bros' twin guitars on "Pura Vida," and the steel pan meets dubstep collisions of the Future Falcon material. Incoming rain affected the crowd's enthusiasm in the last quarter of the show, but the band was firing on all cylinders at that point and people stayed until the bitter end. All in all, a strong showing, which left the crowd no doubt hoping she'd be back in Montreal soon.
