Show Review - The Love Machine/ Hungry Hearts
The Love Machine
Hungry Hearts
David R. Elliott
at Gus' Pub
Wednesday, November 17th 2010
10:00PM
$5.00
Wednesday, November 17th 2010
10:00PM
$5.00
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Review By Daniel Nightingale
David R. Elliott was a last min addition to the previous two band line up. For a late edition on a rainy Wednesday night, his following was certainly enthusiastic. There's not really a whole lot to critic with one man acoustic singer/songwriters – you either like them or you don't. Acoustic guitars sound a little shrill through the Gus PA, but the songs were strong and his vocals, while not technically perfect, were heartfelt and had a nice edge for rockier/grungier songs. I actually liked his voice, it was certainly the focal point over skilled but ordinary guitar playing.
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Hungry Hearts were up next. They had that thick, upper Canada indie sound that seems to be pretty popular nowadays, a sort of Weakerthans descended sound of dynamic and atmospheric rock songs with strong vocal work and harmonies. With three other seemingly able singers in the band it seemed odd to have an instrumentless singer; even though the band sounded pretty full I still could have heard some keyboards, or at least some extra percussion in the mix. They too seemed to have a decent Halifax following as fans sung along to shouted wordless choruses (I'd not heard of them, but it may have been mentioned amongst the stage banter that they used to call Halifax home).
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The Love Machine were up last, and they delivered with a fresh and original sound that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Layers of guitar effects didn't cover up really nice, even guitar work that didn't rely too heavily on a single style. And you can always tell when a band has a solid drummer they've been working with, because the songs revolve around a strong beat and branch out, rather than being a bunch of people trying to play a chord progression together. Tight and punchy bass rounded out their well polished sound, while the theme of the night – great group vocal work – stayed strong here. Sadly we had to leave before the end of their set due to early work commitments, but I look forward to seeing them out again next time they come through Halifax. Check out some more photos and videos below and watch for these guys coming your way on tour.
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