Tess Parks

Toronto native Tess Parks has been accruing a lot of good reviews since the late-2013 release of her debut LP, the bewitching, Alan McGee-approved (he signed her and put out the album on his latest label) Blood Hot. On Sunday (June 22), Parks was tasked with closing out the last night of NXNE at the Silver Dollar Room and her pleasantly raspy voice (think Joan Jett on Quaaluudes), slowed-down "Midnight Rambler" riffs and hypnotic, dream-like psychedelic morning-after drones were the perfect soundtrack to the inevitable end-of-festival daze. Although her set was disappointingly brief — particularly for the kind of expansive music that thrives on repetition and subtle shifts — it was easy to see the potential that McGee saw in the young singer.