One Great City

I saw the Weakerthans on election night; they were, of course, excellent. J K Samson sang with his usual cadence, his slight but endearing vocals simultaneously ringing with vulernability and confidence. The music was played just as well as it was sung, as the band provided the perfect backdrop for Samson's sharply poetic vignettes. Stark, simple, and faintly idiosyncratic, the Weakerthans sound like Winnipeg. The more astute amongst you will probably note that I don't generally gravitate towards music with such poetic aspirations. But these are good songs, first and foremost; they work as well sonically as they do semantically.

The first encore song was "One Great City!", a favorite of mine. It's a simple figerpicked tune, just Samson and his guitar singing of bitter characters who perfectly capture the love/hate relationship he has with his hometown. The disenchantment within the tune, for me, recalls last autumn, when my job (and most everything else) was miserable. I listened to it every single day. So when Samson noted that the sentiments expressed within the song can just as easily be applied to Detroit, it rather depressed me, reminding me just how frustrating the motor city can be. I'm not sure if I like the song anymore.

Also...

It bears mentioning that the opening band, Piebald, is one of the worst I've ever heard. Tuneless atonal emo-esque shit disguised as "quirky" indie rock. Godawful. Piebald, if you can read this...quit. A collection of dissonant chords thrown haphazardly together do not constitute a song. Further, their version of Weezer's "No One Else" doesn't hold a candle to the Hat's.