Playing a show mid-week can be challenging due to a bunch of mitigating factors, yet the air inside of the La Sotterenea basement was absolutely buzzing last Wednesday for the Shunk album launch. This was, of course, for Shunk’s wonderfully whacky debut release, Shunkland – which we wrote about HERE. Spirits were high, high-lighted by a pile of empty beer cans before the clubified opening act, Born at Midnite (commonly referred to now as BAM).
Born at Midnite (BAM) I Stephan Boissonneault
This Arbutus label two-piece (made up of vocalist/sampler Amery Sandford and guitarist/vocalist David Carriere) is somewhat of an unsung hero in the Montreal electro community, sharing about a million streams but only playing a handful of shows since their debut in 2020. If you listen to BAM’s recordings, you immediately feel the professional touch of the mix, and this luckily isn’t lost during the live show—the vocals are pushed back when they have to be, the pounding bass is thick when it needs to be, the lead guitar lines cut through. It’s a hazy kind of musical mix that makes you feel like you’re in a club, but not the kind where you get abosultely throttled. It was a fun and lighthearted show and perfectly set the energy for Shunk.
Shunk takes the stage and immediately jumps into Shunkland‘s dreamy, soon-to-be nightmare opener, “Sated.” We get a full stereo mix live as guitarist Peter Baylis rocks two amps, one for the high and one for the low ends. The bass guitar and reverb guitar arpeggio bleed into the room, and singer Gabrielle Domingue sings with an operatic, Hounds of Love falsetto vibe. Shunk is all about putting you into a weird and whimsical trance and then bringing down the hammer. And it’s not just with heavy distortion like so many other bands. You’ll have high energy moments where the instrumentation is completely clean yet, staccato and delayed. It’s a very 80s post-punk vibe but also quite dancy. I mean, the song “Clouds” feels like sweaty and vibrant prom dance circa 1983.
Some of these songs are absolutely hilarious in their subject matter; we got one about goblins, cute little tennis outfits, a devilish, sultry snake, and a “Rat King” named Stew, who becomes a one-of-us entity that has Domingue growling, “Give us your money / give us your infant child!!!” One crowd member gladly screamed, “Take it, please!” Not sure she meant the money or infant child…
There’s a certain kind of coolness factor with local bands. Some choose to act aloof, clad in dark colours, and unacknowledging, and some really peacock it up for their shows. Shunk is a mix of the two. You have the unassuming slacker vibe of guitarist Peter Baylis (dressed in an orange button-up shirt with frazzled curly hair) and drummer Adrian Vaktor (sporting an Alexisonfire tee). Then there’s bass player (although she screams each lyric without a mic) Julia Hill, who is dressed in grunge-90s chic with a checked skirt and big O belt, and lead vocalist Gabrielle Domingue who is decked out in a full pin-stripe suit, with a single button, revealing a bit of skin and what looks to be a chainlink leather top.
Of course, Domingue’s suit jacket comes off during the carnal-charged “Snake, – about someone consuming you, bones and all. It’s impossible to look away from the spectacle as Domingue, wearing only the top (which turns out to be a leather bra with chains), dives into the crowd and screams in a frenzy, pushing the crowd into a mosh. It’s this same kind of hardcore energy that reminds me of her defunct band Visibly Choked (RIP). During “Snake”‘s outro, Hill stands on the edge of the stage, screaming each lyric, and behind her, Baylis and Vaktor are head-banging in reverie. You can easily tell that Shunk is a band that has each member thoroughly enjoying what they are doing.
For the encore, we get one new song from Shunk that has Hill bowing her bass for some drone and, based on sound alone, could have easily been on Shunkland. But for now, we’ll let them cook up another batch of songs.
