Bracelet has been a band on my need-to-see live show list for quite some time. They’ve been around for two years or so, but I never had the pleasure due to a metric-fucked cavalcade of other live band shows I’ve needed to attend as a music journo in Montreal. I’ve also seen multiple cool local bands wearing their merch, so I knew that their opening set at P’tit Ours for Pop Montréal was a must.
In a packed room (though it could have been more packed, more on that later), the three-piece unleashed some impassioned, jangly, yet melodic indie rock, while not really facing the audience, which kind of added to the mysterious ambiance under the cave that is P’tit Ours. The Bracelet sound is spartan, with only a few moments of real flash (this is a good thing for the Bracelet sound), but damn, is it tight and present.
The vocals from guitarist Caleb McKend feel very stream-of-consciousness, shot from the hip—at times like being sung from a personal mental health shopping list, while his guitar riffs float and hang in the heavy air. The guitar leaves a lot of room for the bass from Silas Jordan to really groove out and take his moments. I also gotta give props to the drumming from William Sinclair. The guy makes a lot with such a small kit. I enjoyed the cowbell and the absolute murder on the toms during the unreleased track, “Waterbed.” Actually, after a little digging, most of this Pop setlist is unreleased. They only played two songs from the I Hear Bracelet five-song EP. I can say from what I’ve heard, these guys gotta release the full-length soon.
My only gripe with the show, and it’s a small one, is that the door staff were turning people away from the show when the venue was not at capacity. I’ve played sold-out shows at P’tit Ours, and you can fit 75 people. Sure, it’s cramped, and you can smell everyone and their beer, but that’s rock ‘n’ roll. There were probably 50 total, and lots of room at the back. Still, Bracelet made it work.
Bracelet may be the band that other bands tell other bands about, but everyone should know ’em.
Photos by Stephan Boissonneault
