On Wednesday night, Seattle indie/psych rockers Packaging made their Toronto debut, delivering a solid, immersive set to a small but attentive crowd.
“Thanks for coming out on a Wednesday night,” singer and guitarist Daniel Lyon told the room at one point. “Appreciate it.”
“Appreciate you!” a fan called back.
“Hell yeah, love the mutual appreciation,” Lyon replied.
Touring behind their debut self-titled album, Packaging sounded great. While the band is tight, there was also a looseness to the performance that suited the material, allowing the songs to breathe while maintaining enough momentum to keep the room engaged as they ran through tunes like “In Your Pocket,” “Amarillo” and “Running Through the Airport.”
And sure, the crowd may have been a bit modest in size (I get it – a midweek show following the Labour Day weekend can be a hard sell), but those who were there were most certainly appreciative of the band’s dreamy, psych-heavy sound. It’s a sound that’s easy to get drawn into, a sound that moves comfortably between dreamy and propulsive, never straying too far from the band’s underlying sense of atmosphere.
As their set came to a close, the band returned to the stage for an encore, with Lyon casually announcing, “Alright, we’ll play you one to really tuck you into bed. Or start out your night. I don’t know where you’re at.”
Given the band’s hazy, hypnotic sound, either destination works.
