This Saturday, at Hémisphère Gauche, Andy Boay held the stage and our attention. It felt like stepping into someone else’s faded memory of 2012 Montreal, familiar, but ever so slightly warped. The word that best describes his performance is mesmerizing. One half of Tonstartssbandht, the guitarist and singer stopped in Montreal on his North American tour for his new album You Took That Walk For The Two Of Us.
Throughout, his long, flowing songs let you walk with him and forget you’re at a concert with other people.The care taken with the spatialization is undoubtedly part of what made his performance so immersive. Pulsating, dynamic panning hit at just the right moments, letting the long songs pull you forward.
Sonically, the set combined lyric delivery reminiscent of ’80s beachy jams, and the sound processing and electronics of modern dreamy electro-pop like ML Buch or Laurel Halo, creating an unexpected yet cohesive experience. Every song had an undeniable heartbeat that the crowd swayed to and was hypnotized by. The use of drum loops was perfectly mixed in and out of the performance, keeping a very alive feeling. This was aided by Boay’s simple use of high and low cut filters to fade from one part to the next.
The sonic experience was matched by Boay’s stage presence; he knows how to put on a show with David Byrne-like moments of choreography and projected images on the back wall. The projections were part black-and-white microscopic cell-like fractals, part psychedelic computer screens. The shifting between colour and black-and-white visuals felt like the current stark experience and nostalgia that the whole evening fluctuated between.
All in all, I hope the second half of his tour goes this well. Andy Boay puts on a great solo show.
