Kids these days.
After playing a spirited hour long show, the young, Australian indie pop group San Cisco left the stage to a large applause from the young and enthusiastic crowd. As the applause continued, it became apparent that the group was going to come back for the traditional encore.
Only they didn’t.
Taking the microphone, lead vocalist Jordi Davieson (who looks like a cross between Joseph Levitt Gordon and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig) simply explained that they had run out of songs. “We don’t have any more songs, but if you want, we’ll meet you back at the bar in a little bit” exclaimed the young lad (words might not be 100% accurate, but similar).
It seemed like a rookie mistake. The band had however, just played to a show in Pittsburgh to fifteen people (according to them) so I guess they could be excused if they did not plan for this type of reaction in Toronto on a chilly night.
San Cisco is a four piece band from Australia with a disposition for sunny, crisp and charming pop music. As awful as a comparison it is, think Vampire Weekend meets Foster the People. Immediately catchy tracks immediately ready for summer consumption. You might hate yourself for liking them, but chances are, you might hate yourself anyway. Catching a nice wave off SXSW, the band played the Garrison on Tuesday.
My initial reaction of the group was ..damn, they are young. Then I looked around the Garrison and also thought…damn, they are young. Makes me thing that their tracks were played in an Urban Outfitter store or part of a mix tape from that store or something. The group had a pretty standard indie-pop band setup these days, meaning all the guitarists/bassist also had keyboards near them. All that was missing was a single drum for the lead singer to bang on near the front. Then they would have nailed indie-pop-band-2010-to-2013 template perfectly. Their drummer, Scarlett Stevens would also provide vocals throughout the night, although mashing on the drums and singing might have proven to be a bit too much (the vocals were erratic). Her vocals remind me of Charlotte Cooper’s vocals of the Subways, meaning it was there just to sound different/help with the story (as in the case of hit single Awkward).
San Cisco’s live show was exactly like I had imagined – energetic, catchy and fun. Their songs are easily digestible and if you have had spent some time on their self titled debut LP or any of their EP’s, you were probably pleased with the outcome. Songs like Rocket Ship and set opener Golden Revolver probably had you singing along to them in parts while other tracks sounded pleasant enough for you to enjoy. It was all very pleasant and very smooth, but it also makes me wonder if this type of inoffensive pleasant music is the exact type of music I shouldn’t be listening to anymore. It’s good and all, and I’ll have a good time, but I won’t have a great time, and we should all strive for greatness, right? Maybe that last part doesn’t have anything to do with the band, and more to do with me. I guess it just seems that the machine has just been churning out a lot of indie-pop bands like San Cisco, and so I wonder if everyone is just going through the same cycle of initial excitement, followed by good first show, then the eventual slow death that comes as we focus on another nice indie pop band to come through. That’s probably a discussion for another day, for now, San Cisco put on a fun show, let’s just hope next time they’ll schedule something for an encore.
