Nils Edenloff's searing vocals burnedthroughout the packed crowd like whiskey caught on fire. Keyboardist Amy Coleplayed his soothing foil, cooling off the flames with her delicate voice ontracks like "Don't Haunt This Place" and "The Deadroads." AndPaul Banwatt's ferocious drumming overpowered a few early songs in the set. Hebroke his kick drum pedal 10 minutes in.
The Toronto-based indie-rockerspredominately played tunes from their 2008 debut, Hometowns. Little buzz was heard for the self-released record untileMusic featured it on its Web site in November of that year. It earned sleeperhit statuswhich it still holdsprompting Saddle Creek Records to re-releasethe album last July.
Hometownsyearns for the past, whether it be a childhood memory, a lost love or a quaintCanadian landscape. It's no surprise that Thursday night Edenloff added twonostalgic covers to the set. A serene rendition of Survivor's "Eye of theTiger" and the playful theme to "The Littlest Hobo," an ’80sCanadian TV series featuring a stray German shepherd, melded with The RuralAlberta Advantage’s themes of longing for a previous time. Cole even mentionedthat she found Milwaukee’s " BronzeFonz" statue endearing, saying that Torontodidn't have anything quite like it.
The Rural Alberta Advantage reached thenight's apex with an unrecorded song, one that Edenloff prefaced assecond-rate. It transcended his timid introduction, though. The repetitivechorus sounded shatteringly real ("I let you go/ And I hold you/ I let youdie/ And I hold you"), but only because Edenloff's face turned red fromwhat seemed like utter despair. You felt the lead singer's cathartic release.And you could see why Rural Alberta Advantage puts on a great live showtheymake every song singe, even their mediocre ones.
Photo by Cj Foeckler
