By Kaitlyn Emslie Farrell
On Sunday, September 20 at one of our local music hotspots, the Good Will Social Club, I had my first Slim Twig experience. It was your typical Winnipeg Sunday, with a cool breeze and most people at home dreading the fact that Monday was approaching. A few music lovers dragged their butts out to catch some tunes.
The night started off with Winnipeg’s own Odanah. These local art rockers played it fast and slow to a crowd of Sunday sippers. They’re a group that doesn’t appear to conform to limitations and isn’t easy to predict. It’s hard to know the audience’s true emotions on a day designed for doing nothing. This crowd included Slim Twig and his band mates. It’s always nice to see touring headliners giving their attention to the local openers. Their set, which lasted over 45 minutes, set the tone for a night of mysterious music.
It was a short break while the headliners set up and the background music was cut short with Twig’s eagerness. “Are you good? ‘Cause we’re good,” Twig said to the soundguy. Now at first it seemed that Twig just couldn’t hold back and needed to drown the crowd of less than 25 people in his guitar tones and heavy sounds. But it is possible the intention was ‘early start, early finish’ as the whole show was over by 11 p.m. I mean, it was a Sunday.
He hit the stage with style. We knew this before the music started based on his satin varsity jacket that read ‘BORN TO RUN’ across the back, long wavy hair, and mustache (you can never be too sure about a guy with a mustache). I wouldn’t mind sitting down with Twig and having a conversation. I bet he’s got a lot of good stuff to say. It’s hard not to notice how passionate he is about what he’s doing. You can see it in his facial expressions.
If you like instrumental music then you would have loved this show. Each song promised an easy 60% of instrumental parts for the guys on stage to jump around to. In fact, the openers had a lot of this too. There was one member of the crowd sitting in a booth reading a book. It wasn’t an act of disrespect, but more of a comfort thing. This reader was just doing their thing with a live soundtrack. That’s pretty cool.
The show delivered a heavy rock atmosphere regardless of the stillness of the crowd. The experimental elements heard throughout the newest album Thank You for Stickin’ with Twig weren’t very noticeable live. If you are currently unfamiliar with Twig’s music then I would advise you to check out his recordings first because those seem to have more avant-garde effects.
Thank You for Stickin’ with Twig is Twig’s fifth release. The title is ironic, considering the attendance. However, I’d say Twig’s most loyal fan is Twig himself. Despite the tired Sunday he truly gave it his all. He takes great pride in his work, saying that “Stone Rollin’ (Musical Emotion)” was the greatest song title him and his band mates ever came up with.
Twig might just be one of those artists you want to keep an eye on over the years. When I try to think of where he’ll be in five or ten years I see him just as I saw him last: on stage. But the stage would probably be a bit bigger, the music a bit weirder, the jacket a bit shinier, and the hair much larger. You might want to stick with Twig.