(pair of mirrors)

Timber Timbre

-Live in Peterborough and Toronto-

I promised to report on the Timber Timbre shows but I’m not sure I know how.  Both shows—in Peterborough and Toronto—were not quite like anything else I’ve ever experienced. Under three red lights, at the front of a dark church, Timber Timbre took me somewhere really new. I go to A LOT of concerts. I get goosebumps from music all the time and I experience feelings of hypnosis from live music often enough… but this was different. This was more.  I was so lost in this show that I really couldn’t handle going out afterward because my mind was still possessed.  Possessed by the dark and powerful musical magic of Taylor Kirk, Mika Posen and Simon Trottier. 

This show was so tight, so rich, dynamic, dark, thick and seriously hypnotizing, that I found myself  feeling sad when the second one was over and I knew I didn’t get to go see it all again. And this was after seeing it twice… that week. This show isn’t the performance of an album—its a musical and mental journey. I know that sounds really intense, but intensity is really what defines this band’s live performance for me. Timber Timbre moved flawlessly from hushed ‘you’d-hate-to-cough-at-this-moment’ refrains to ‘I-fear-this-church-is-going-to-break / it-actually-might-be-posessed-by-something-dark’ parts. There were multiple moments where I felt I was experiencing something otherworldly and a little unsettling. I think being able to create that headspace and that experience through music is truly magical. It’s not something many people have the capacity to do. 

Somehow Taylor Kirk can play the guitar, sing, and also play the drums all at the same time.  Meanwhile, Mika Posen plays piano and a bass drum—at the same time—but only when she isn’t playing the most shiver inducing parts on the violin. Then there is Simon Trottier… who has more pedals and knobs  front of him than I’ve ever watched one person use, and he uses all of them…. along with his guitar and his various harps. These are truly talented musicians.

Creep On Creepin On is eerie and magical, as I’ve already told you… but the live show is a whole new Timber Timbre experience.  Watching these musicians do their thing was mesmerizing, inspiring and altogether pretty mind-blowing.  What really impressed most though is the staying power of the experience. It was like a really good book who’s message you think about over and over, or a movie that leaves you questioning what you thought you knew before. Truly, a show I can’t compare to anything else, and one that I’d highly recommend seeing, if ever you get the chance.

And, I know there’s no such thing as ghosts but I have seen the demon host.

-M

Photo Credit (and thank you!) to Charles Bierk