About a week ago, the Canadian baroque pop prince, Andy Shauf, was back in Montreal, only this time it was with one of his first real bands, Foxwarren. Named after a very tiny town in Manitoba, Foxwarren graced the Theatre Fairmount stage to support their second album, 2. My party and I were a bit late and only caught the tail end of the opener, Allegra Krieger, but the whole last song I heard was stripped back and emotional. As Krieger wielded her finger-picked electric, I felt the kinship with another alt indie singer songwriter, Margaret Glaspy—at least her earlier EP work.
Foxwarren opened their set with the slow disco tinged 2 opener, “Dance.” Shauf was on rhythm guitar and the sampler, which he used for some 808 drum action and samples of old ’50s and ’60s romance movies, which you can hear all throughout 2. I honestly could have done with more movie sampling live, that we hear on the album, as it ties a nice bow on the whole thematic feeling. Still, Foxwarren put on a hell of a show. The rest of the band: Dallas Bryson, brothers Avery Kissick & Darryl Kissick, and Colin Nealis, all played with the kind of chemistry that they have been a band for decades, well, at least two decades. The stage banter was really minimal, save for a few “hellos,” and “thank yous” from the quiet and docile Shauf.
Nealis is a newer addition, but the core four-piece Bryson, the brothers Kissick and Shauf have been making music together before Andy Shauf’s huge critically acclaimed 2016 album, The Party. Highlights of this live show were definitely the funky “Deadhead,” my personal favourite on 2, “Yvonne,” and of course the band hit, “Sunset Canyon.” We also got an encore of Andy Shauf’s “Green Glass,” a song I never thought I would hear live. Yes, Foxwarren deserves all of the praise, even outside of the Andy Shauf connect.
