Lioness

BY Cam LindsayPublished Jan 14, 2008

From January 14 to 25 I will be counting down the ten new acts I expect big things from in 2008. As always, it’s tough to predict just who will break through and who will fade into obscurity once the year ends, but really, the point of this exercise is to get you pumped about the artists I’m pumped about. Enjoy reading, and don’t hesitate to point out how right or wrong I was when 2009 comes around.

Meet Lioness. I’ve been itching to write about this band ever since I caught their very first performance at Tiger Bar in Toronto on March 23 last year. I must admit, it wasn’t exactly a debut to go home and alert the blogosphere about, but when is the very first gig of any band that memorable? Nevertheless, it was a performance that stuck with me and now they finally have some music online to hear in the endless groove of "You’re My Heart.” Lioness are a supergroup of sorts, comprised of Jeff Scheven and Ronnie Morris from controller.controller (status: inactive) and Vanessa Fischer of No Dynamics (status: "slowly working things out”). Anyone familiar with the members’ other work won’t be too surprised by what they find in Lioness, but if you ask me, the band are the marriage of those aforementioned bands’ best bits. Scheven and Morris were the force behind controller.controller’s elastic death disco rhythms, which are the foundation of Lioness’ sound. Sans guitar or keyboard, the job is left up to Fischer to deliver the key melody. Compared to the boisterous no wave/punk leanings of her other outfit, Lioness give her a much better outlet to demonstrate her rich pipes, which are entrenched in the deep tones that birthed this sound originally some 30 years ago. An EP has been recorded and mixed with help from Rob Sanzo (Cancer Bats, Sianspheric), and is scheduled to drop some time in '08.

Lioness "You’re My Heart”

Latest Coverage