It’s Friday, and we have another big weekend of shows ahead of us here in Nashville, and a fun little Starry Nights Festival right up the road in Bowling Green. There is one Nashville show in particular that I wanted to spotlight tonight, because I know it is going to be incredible. Poliça and Canon Blue are playing tonight at Mercy Lounge starting at 9pm, and you should definitely get out to see some live music tonight.
Poliça is a reincarnation for Gayngs’ members Ryan Olson and Channy Leaneagh who formed this side-project-gone-huge in 2011. They leaked a couple of tracks that made their way around the internet late last year, and by the time South By Southwest came around, Poliça was one of the hottest tickets in Austin. Mike Grimes pulled them in days later for an amazingly powerful set over at The Basement. I was truly blown away with the melodic voice of Channy with more reverb than the autotune you hear in their 2012 record Give You The Ghost. What really pulls it all together are the dual drum kits that are about a half beat off of one another as they blister through some serious post-prog-rock sort of licks. Seriously, if you are a fan of music, do not miss this one. You can have a listen to “Lay Your Cards Out” from the aforementioned record which features Mike Noyce of Bon Iver fame.
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You can be equally excited about the opener Canon Blue. Canon Blue is the moniker of Nashville resident Daniel James. He began work on Canon Blue back in 2007 with Chris Taylor (of Grizzly Bear and CANT fame), and it resulted in the 2007 debut album Colonies. Apparently, it took some time in Europe for James to take his project to the next level. He spent time in Copenhagen & Iceland arranging and recording. He even worked with Amilina (that would be the Sigur Rós string section) while in Iceland to record his orchestral arrangements. Rumspringa was born here, and we are left with an ambitious mixture of orchestral pop (ala Beirut), singer-songwriter (ala Sufjan Stevens), and frenetic beats that provide a complete and beautiful record. You can have a listen to “Indian Summer (Des Moines)” from Rumspringa below.
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