majical cloudz @ smiling buddha

Photo via Pitchfork

My favourite form of media is arts journalism. It always has been. I'm much more likely to read an issue of The Fader front to back than I am to read the entire front page of a newspaper.

But journalism school hasn't given me many opportunities to write about art, music, fashion or film. Until this semester, when I took Journalism and the Arts and got to dabble in reviewing. 

Here's a concert review of Majical Cloudz's October 17th show at Smiling Buddha. Although it's less than 500 words, it's my favourite thing I wrote all semester. 

Devon Welsh crouches down, encircled by about 100 people sitting cross-legged like school children. His voice floats over the crowd. They gaze at him intently; he’s a church leader preaching to his congregation. One woman wipes a tear. This is Majical Cloudz live.

Welsh, along with producer Matthew Otto, form the melancholic electronic synth duo based out of Montreal. The release show at Smiling Buddha on Oct. 17 for their latest album, Are You Alone?—a follow-up to 2013’s Impersonator—was Majical Cloudz in their best sense: raw, unpolished and intimate.

Emerging from the packed-in crowd, they mounted the stage adorned with a mic, a keyboard and a single spotlight. A stage as Spartan as their music. “You’re adorable!” was called out from the front row. Welsh chuckled bashfully and gave his thanks. Then, his face turned stoic and the opening lyrics of “Disappeared” cut through the venue.

Their subdued, dream-like synth music transformed to become anthemic and urgent thanks to reverb, echo and the imperfect purity of Welsh’s voice live. The strain of his voice as he sang, “You’ve got to learn to love me,“ layered with Otto’s work on the keyboard, suspended the audience in feelings of pain, remorse and lost love.

Twenty minutes in, Welsh joked that they were about to play their last song, “Childhood’s End.” The whole venue sang along to the wilder, bigger live rendition. Otto was enrapt, completely lost in the music. The higher register of Welsh’s voice was beautiful, he lingered there longer than on the album. Interestingly, this was the only one of their popular songs that they played, focusing instead on the new album and unreleased tracks.

Halfway through, things became unhinged and they let their fans and friends call out what they wanted to hear next. Someone asked for the “fast version” of “Game Show,” a song released the day before. Otto’s bewildered response: “You’re not supposed to know that exists.”

This is something that doesn’t happen when they open for Lorde at Echo Beach or play Pitchfork NXNE showcases. Those shows widen their fan base but Majical Cloudz thrives off intimacy and immediacy. That tangible connection between the people they’re performing for is what makes seeing them memorable. 

They closed the night with their pleading new single, “Downtown”. As the lyrics “Nothing you say will ever be wrong/’Cause it just feels good being in your arms,” hung in the air, the mutual understanding that for Majical Cloudz,, it’s in the arms of  their die-hard fans where they’re most comfortable and where they excel.