Toronto's Rock Plaza Central mesmerizes a Montreal audience with their unique brand of indie-folk music, proving they deserve all of their recent critical praise.
Despite their current status as indie rock darlings, Toronto’s Rock Plaza Central, in reality, are much closer in their musical sensibilities to an old-timey jug band.
First, they are a large collection of seven musicians who play a variety of instruments, including guitar, bass, drums, violin, mandolin, trumpet and accordion. Watching them launch into their first songs at their January 27 performance in Montreal, one got the feeling that they could have played the venue’s folding chairs if necessary.
Second, the group’s singer Chris Eaton—complete with a full, thick beard—plays the part perfectly of the old-school hippy trading folk songs at some three-day festival. He often pushes his voice to the point of straining. While this can turn off some listeners, it seems to endear him to the hardier folk fans who have grown up on a steady diet of Bob Dylan and Neil Young.
On this frigid night in Montreal, the group started late, but took the stage with a palpable warmth and affability. Throughout the night, they would discuss their day jobs, radioactive material “somewhere” in Ontario, and their love of the new Battlestar Galactica.
As a result, the whole evening maintained a feeling of joyous improvisation, as if the band and the crowd were a group of friends together for a party and someone happened to be passing out instruments.
Rock Plaza Central’s songs, while they frequently have the epic feeling that dominates indie rock circles these days, are built around acoustic instruments, shockingly simple arrangements, and strange, surreal lyrics.
For example, “Anthem for the Already Defeated,” from the critically-acclaimed Are We Not Horses, emerged midway through the set as an audience favorite. The song tells a dark and haunting story that could be taken from a Leadbelly classic.
As the tune progresses, Eaton’s vocals become increasing hysterical, matched only by frenetic horns and screeching violin. On the album this is a short, tall-tale track. Live, the band extended it with several minutes of instrumental improvisation, and the audience responded with a roar of appreciation.
The highlight of the evening was definitely the group’s extended rendition of their hit “My Children, Be Joyful” (recently featured as NPR’s “Song of the Day”) that then flowed directly into “We Got a Lot to Be Glad For.” These two songs offered an ecstatic, hopeful climax to the evening, with each track alternating between intricate four- or five-part harmonies and sections of thundering jam sessions.
The overall result was a performance full of energy, dancing, and unabashed musical fun. Rock Plaza Central proved that they are far more than the “flavor of the month” in critical circles. Instead, their music exudes an unselfconscious abandon that would be equally at home in a posh New York City rock bar or a down-home hootenanny.
