Colin Stetson + Hangedup @ La Sala Rossa

Suoni Per Il Popolo, Montreal’s premier celebration of musical strangeness and the avant garde, brought (as always) a consortium of great acts to the stages of La Sala Rossa and Casa del Popolo this year. One of the premier events was the Constellation Records show headlined by your favourite experimental saxophonist and mine, Montreal adopted-son Colin Stetson. Stetson’s second album, New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges, has been one of my favourite releases this year. When one of my fellow CJLO DJs had to pass on the opportunity to review his performance, I immediately sent an all-caps email requesting it.

The show was completely sold out, and the room was almost completely filled even before the first act, Montreal’s Hangedup. Those in attendance were quite diverse, ranging from bespectacled fifty-something couples, to dusty hipsters, to Concordia jazz students. Stetson’s unique approach seems to evoke strong feelings of one sort or another from everybody – ranging from rabid fanboyism (like yours truly) to inducing angry, incomprehensible muttering. More on that later, though.

Hangedup is an experimental post-rock duo composed of Genevieve Heistek on viola and Eric Craven on drums/percussion. It was a pleasure to watch Heistek slowly build her loops, routed to amps strewn across the stage, while Craven held everything together with a solid rhythmic structure (even got heads bobbing a few times). Homemade percussion devices filled out the sonics. Their set lasted just over half an hour, the perfect amount of time by my calculations. It’s easy to overdo this kind of music, and I was glad they did not.

Then Colin Stetson took the stage. He performs completely alone, accompanied only by three saxophones (alto, tenor, and baritone). Make no mistake, this is no limitation. Microphones inside the instruments and taped to his throat create entire new dimensions of sound that are grotesquely beautiful. I came to the show knowing that his recordings are single takes, but what that meant was lost on me until I saw him do it live. Stetson is clearly in excellent physical shape, a complete necessity to perform his music. Throughout his fifty-plus minute set, he had to engage in combat with his instruments, wrenching out sounds that they are simply not designed to make. It was a spectacle to see him rock back and forth, dominating the four-foot brass behemoth that is a baritone sax with his inventive technique and mastery of circular breathing.

And I am not alone in thinking this. People talk over concerts in Montreal, it’s simply part of our culture. But not this show. From the first note to the last of every piece, the entire audience (packed house, remember) stood at silent attention, erupting as soon as he took his mouth away from the reed. The appreciation was mutual, as Stetson proclaimed at one point that he had “a total boner for this town right now.” He pointed out that he had chosen a particularly difficult set for his adoptive home town, and we all felt the effort he put in to make the show special.

If you haven’t heard Stetson’s records, check them out, but if you ever get the chance to see him live, DO NOT MISS IT. Even if you don’t care for the music, it is unlike any other live music experience.

-Lachlan F