The Panic Manual

Concert Review: Of Monsters and Men, Árný Margrét, October 28, History

Posted on

29 Oct 2025

Paul

Several minutes after their announced 9:00 pm start time, the members of Of Monsters and Men took to the stage at History and stood front and centre as a group. Well, almost as a group – there was one key member missing. It was then that singer/guitarist Ragnar Þórhallsson announced that the band’s lead singer Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir had lost her voice, and that that this was the first time this had ever happened. “It happens to me all the time,” he said, adding that the show still kind of works without him but doesn’t really without her.

A moment of confusion followed, as the audience collectively wondered what would come next. One guy jokingly offered to fill in for Nanna, though after Þórhallsson heard a little sample of his vocal talents, he decided to pass. They did announce though, that we should hang on to our tickets and that they’d be back as soon as they can to play a “real show” and in the meantime, they would play a handful of songs to try and salvage something out of the situation. What followed was a very truncated set of only four songs.

Opening up with a familiar tune, the band started things off with “Dirty Paws” off their debut album My Head is An Animal before then playing a pair of tunes off the new album All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade – “Dream Team” and “Tuna in a Can.” They ended their mini-set with their best known tune “Little Talks,” the crowd ably filling in for Nanna by singing her parts. And while the show we got was certainly not what anyone expected, what we did get still sounded great – even without Nanna – and it was nice to get at least a little taste.

Also on the bill was another Icelandic act, Árný Margrét, who played a charming and stripped back set that ultimately ended up being longer than that of the headliners. Playing at the very from of the stage, solo and armed with just her guitar, Margret put on a show better suited for a venue a fraction of the size of History, but she made it work regardless. There’s an easy kind of charm and warmth to her music, with tunes like “Greyhound Station” and “Born in Spring” standing out as the highlights.

Though the evening may not have gone as planned, what we got instead still made for a fairly memorable and enjoyable show and with the promise of a make-up concert on the horizon, I can’t imagine fans walked away too disappointed.

Song of the Day: Sharp Pins – Queen Of Globes And Mirrors

Posted on

28 Oct 2025

Paul

“Queen Of Globes And Mirrors” is the latest single from Chicago’s Sharp Pins, taken off their upcoming album Balloon Balloon Balloon, out November 21 on K Records. Check it out.

Song of the Day: Cate Le Bon – About Time

Posted on

27 Oct 2025

Paul

Cate Le Bon made her return last month with the release of her seventh full-length studio album, Michelangelo Dying. “About Time” is the latest single off the album. Check it out.

Michelangelo Dying is out now via Mexican Summer.

Concert Review: The Beta Band, October 25, Danforth Music Hall

Posted on

26 Oct 2025

Paul

It’s been quite a while since The Beta Band has been a going concern, with the Scottish quartet releasing their last album Heroes to Zeros back in 2004 before calling it quits not too long afterward. But, like so many bands these days, they’ve found their way back together and are currently on tour playing all the old hits that made them cult favorites. Unsurprisingly, the crowd at this show was of ‘a certain age,’ with vocalist Steve Mason noting, “This one’s for the old school … which is most of you” before launching into “Dogs Got a Bone.”

Focusing mostly on songs off The Three E.P.’s, the band put on an impressive performance. The interplay between the four bandmates was truly something to behold, with plenty of extended jams and each member switching between instruments throughout the set, often over the course of a single song.

Watching the four of them on stage at the Danforth Music Hall on Saturday night, it certainly didn’t seem like a band who, as Mason noted at one point, hadn’t come through Toronto in 20 or maybe 25 years. It felt more like sitting in on a jam session of old friends just picking things up where they left off years ago and naturally locking into a groove. It may have been a few years since The Beta Band last toured, but live, they sound as vital and inventive as ever.

Song of the Day: Juliana Hatfield – Popsicle

Posted on

25 Oct 2025

Paul

“Popsicle” is the latest single from Juliana Hatfield, taken off her upcoming album Lightning Might Strike, out December 12 via American Laundromat Records. Check it out.

Song of the Day: Hush – The Mirrors Were Right

Posted on

23 Oct 2025

Paul

Photo Credit: Aabid Youssef

“The Mirrors Were Right” is the debut single from the Montreal trio of Paige Barlow, Miles Dupire-Gagnon, and Gabriel Lambert, collectively known as Hush.

“For the clip, we wanted to portray a fractured sense of self,” says lead vocalist Paige Barlow when describing the concept behind the video. “The distorted inner witness. Evolving identities over time. Imagined through a cubist and surrealist lens: worlds sensed, not witnessed. Images drift and reform, mirroring the song’s unfolding. A meditation on multiplicity. The self made plural.”

With its dreamy, psychedelic sound drawing influence from a wide range of sources – the band cite the likes of Broadcast, The Velvet Underground, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Steve Lacy, Cocteau Twins and Ariel Pink as influences – “The Mirrors Were Right” is a solid introduction to Hush that has me looking forward to their debut album, due out sometime in 2026 via Simone Records. Check it out.