Being from Edmonton, AB, I’ve known about the bedroom indie/maximalist rock artist, Marlaena Moore, for quite some time. You can say I’ve followed her trajectory from those intimate shows within the walls of the defunct Edmonton venue, Wunderbar, to her now almost sold-out album show in Montreal’s historic La Sala Rossa. She was starting to get somewhat “Edmonton famous” around the music scene circa 2016-17 with songs from her album GAZE, like the absolute grungy banger “24 Hour Drug Store.”
Yet, you can certainly hit a well-known ceiling in Edmonton and whether that, a global pandemic, love—or all three—influenced her decision, she decided to move to Montreal. During the thick of the pandemic, she released Pay Attention, Be Amazed!, the follow-up to GAZE, which had her playing less guitar and focusing on vocals, perhaps sowing the seeds for her role now as the powerhouse singer with a spectacular backing band.
So here we are at the album release of the newest album Because You Love Everything (via Bonsound’s, sublabel, Session) and Marlaena is looking like an heiress—donning a sparkling cocktail dress and long gloves, slaying with the pipes of a goddess, and her band is crushing their respective roles. Moore has the kind of voice that can stop you dead in your tracks and quickly command a room. Her soaring vocals consume the scenery, even over the crowd of chatter by the bar. I’m reminded of the last time I saw Angel Olsen live, who has the same mystical allure.
The band—made up of heavy hitter talent in the Montreal/CAD music scene—is Moore’s not-so-secret weapon. The guitarmonies from her musical partner in crime, Scott “Monty” Munro (Preoccupations, Land of Talk) and Mischa Dempsey (Knitting) are bright, halcyon, and magical. The bass from Chrissy Lawson (Dresser, girl with dream) is thick, funky, and tight, and the drumming from Andy Mulcair (also Knitting) is jazzy and at times, absolutely bonkers. The whole package is tight as sin and sends the live renditions of Because You Love Everything into the stratosphere.
At one point, Marlaena makes a heartfelt and beautiful dedication to her past friend, who sent her a message from the spirit realm in the form of a flamingo. It’s these moments that make Moore’s performance truly captivating; she’s completely genuine, tripping on her words and getting a bit emotional as she tells the story of her friend. Honestly, with a talent like hers, she could have a huge ego and no one would bat an eye, but she remains just as whimsical and real as she did when she was cutting her teeth in good ol’ Berta.
Near the end of the show, the curtains close and Marlaena begins to sing under a lo-fi backing track. Maybe it’s because David Lynch (RIP) has been on my mind, but the luminous glow from the golden curtains, mixed with the spotlight and Marlaena’s look and gravitas make me feel like I’m watching a show at The Slow Club in Blue Velvet.
The curtains open again and the band is back. We get the fiery single “I Miss You,” from Pay Attention, Be Amazed! The show is capped off with an intimate encore of a lo-fi unreleased song (let’s call it “I’ve Never Been Good At Guitar” for now) that has Marlaena picking up the axe and strumming a couple of chords.
Whether or not she was ever worried about ever “breaking through,” into Montreal, Marlaena Moore has arrived and she is still a force to be reckoned with who keeps getting better and better.
