CMW Critical Conclusions for: Mise En Scene

One of the small joys of Canadian Music Week is venue hopping, but only when the scheduling works in your favour, otherwise it is the worst part of CMW. The third band of the night found us heading west on Queen Street, to see Mise En Scene.

Venue: Velvet Underground

First Impressions: Those are some booming vocals from the female lead singer, Stefanie Blondal Johnson. Also, tight musicianship in the band.

Stage Presence: Lots of movement and energy for the relatively small stage. They put on a show at times.

Crowd Reaction: It was a decent sized crowd. However, they played the role of a Toronto crowd, despite the rock happening in front of them.

Random Observation: The woman in front of me looked like the singer from Braids. Raphaelle Standell-Preston, were you at Velvet Underground last night around 10pm?

Last Word: Their singer excels at singing those sustained notes. A lazy reviewer might say they have an Alabama Shakes vibe to them. Their upbeat songs were much more interesting than the slower ones. Some songs sounded nice and grungy. A sound made for a festival (I stole this line from fellow PHM Reviewer Kristina B, but it’s true). 7/10