Illitry, The Good Hunters, and Anthony Damiao rock Wolfond Crescent
To the casual passerby, 18 Wolfond Crescent was just another unassuming postwar bungalow in a quiet residential neighbourhood. To a crowd of local music lovers, it was the latest intimate instalment of Guelph’s Community Music Collective concert series. On Jan. 27, it featured electronic duo Illitry, four-piece folk rockers The Good Hunters, and singer-songwriter Anthony Damiao.
As Illitry opened the show, the audience was quickly fascinated by the pair—Troy Witherow on lead vocals and effects controllers and Chester Edington on guitar, vocals, and keyboard—as they smoothly layered together each piece of their five-song set. For better or for worse, their rough-around-the-edges drum machine sounds, electrical pulses, and long floating melodic lines drew comparisons to Thom Yorke and Radiohead all evening.
Watching them perform was not like watching musicians. It was like watching craftsmen, as each sound was meticulously shaped, its essence carved, sanded, and polished with great attention to detail.
The crowd listened intently.
By contrast, The Good Hunters were what a log cabin in the woods would sound like if it could play guitar: charming, warm, and nostalgia-inducing. Their combination of rockabilly playfulness and folksy-soul searching got the crowd up and dancing right from the sound check. The relationship between the band and the audience was one of mutual reinforcement, as each fed off the other’s excitement.
The highlight of their set, however, was when they unplugged and brothers Joe and John Moran sat down in the middle of the living room to play an acoustic ballad. Not only did they display great command of their audience in getting them to be quiet enough for a completely-unamplified song to work, but they made it feel as though everyone were an equal part of the experience by getting the crowd to fill out the ooos in the chorus.
Closing act Anthony Damiao was interesting to say the least. What is so impressive about Damiao is that his voice is nothing to write home about, but rather than attempting to work around his limitations and play despite them, he played to his weaknesses in a way that embellished them and made them a positive part of his show, helping to defines his own unique style.
His songs were quirky and even slightly humourous, dealing on one level with everyday subject matter, while simultaneously offering an insightful reflection on the kind of world we live in. It was a shame that the audience seemed divided: while many were clearly enjoying Damiao’s weirdness and probably shared his general outlook on things, others seemed lost, perhaps not understanding the genius of what he was doing.
Community Music’s self-ascribed raison-d’être is “because it sounds alright.” What an understatement: to bring such a diverse talent pool to one small house is remarkable.
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