Josh Reichmann & The Oracle Band / Valery Gore / Laura Barrett
Laura Barrett, sensibly dressed for the commute to tonight's Horseshoe gig (though the lady does need some mittens)
Old Man Winter is dumping on Toronto at the moment. For some people, the weather will guarantee they’re staying in and watching American Idol’s karaoke warblers. If you’ve access to the TTC, though, or live in the downtown core, and actually care to see some true musical talent, there’s a triple bill of great Toronto musical artists at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern this evening.
First on the bill, and starting at 9pm, is Laura Barrett. Consistently mentioned by Canadian music critics as an emerging and idiosyncratic national treasure, Barrett possesses the rare ability to lull a rock club into revered quiet with her glimmering soprano, and her dazzlingly complex compositions. Accompanied by members of The Bicycles for this show, Barrett will be playing her signature instrument, the “thumb piano”, or kalimba. But she’ll also be breaking out some of the keyboard-composed songs from her full length debut album “Victory Garden” (released by Paper Bag Records last fall) , like the carnival-esque, whirling tune “Chidiya“.
This will be Barrett’s last Toronto show in some time, as this weekend, she leaves our warm environs to go somewhere REALLY cold. She’ll be spending a month in the Yukon, at an artist’s residency in Dawson City, working on material for a new album.
(More about songstress Valery Gore, and Toronto’s “Jewish Legend” Josh Reichmann, including a terrific summer tune to blast away the winter blues, after the jump.)
Valery Gore
After Barrett finishes tickling the ivories, Valery Gore will slide behind them to play some of the jazz-inspired pop tunes from her sophomore release, “Avalanche to Wandering Bear“. Gore has been playing locally for years now, constantly popping up on bills with other Toronto songwriters like Kurt Swinghammer and Peter Katz, playing the more intimate concert venues around town, like Hugh’s Room, and The Rivoli. But she’s also done the touring rock star thing, having toured nationally and overseas with artists like Josh Ritter and Joel Plaskett. Trained as a jazz pianist at Humber College, Gore’s currently being mentioned as one of Toronto’s recording artists to watch, with regards to capitalizing on Feist’s phenomenal worldwide success.
Headlining the night, in their first Toronto appearance in the current configuration, and their last show before the debut album, will be Josh Reichmann & The Oracle Band.
Josh Reichmann & The Oracle Band
Reichmann first burst onto Toronto’s music scene as the charismatic frontman for the punk rock outfit Tangiers. Along with Victoria’s Hot Hot Heat, Tangiers was partly responsible for the renewed interest in Canada in rock and roll you could dance to, as critics’ attention at the time in Canadian bands had been heretofore focused on long, jammy outfits like GodSpeed You Black Emperor! and Broken Social Scene, or straightforward rock bands like Constantines and Sam Roberts. Tangiers’ energy and blistering punk aesthetic earned them plenty of adoring media attention, especially locally, but over three albums, their sound matured, fans interest waned somewhat, and when co-founding member James Sayce gave up the rock n’ roll lifestyle, Reichmann pulled the plug on the band for good. His intital forays into solo recording and performance, under the alias Jewish Legend, yielded terrific results, but Reichmann recently decided to step out from behind the odd moniker, and now performs as himself with The Oracle Band.
Like Laura Barrett, Josh Reichmann & The Oracle Band’s full length will be released on Paper Bag Records, where their EPs are already available; The band’s next show will likely not be until the debut LP drops in March, so brave the winter weather and head to the ‘Show tonight to preview the material live before anyone else.
