West End Cultural Centre (November 22, 2024)
written by Jonah Strassel
Mere moments before accepting the illustrious 47th annual Schmolaris Prize, Winnipeg’s own revered singer/songwriter Sam Singer was busy gracing the stage at the West End Cultural Centre to celebrate the release of his second full-length album, Where the Rivers Do. What made this a truly special night was that Sam had assembled many of the key players from in and around the Winnipeg music scene, a collection of folks which he had dubbed The Beautiful Movers Orchestra. Ten moving parts on stage, each of them adorned in uniform jumpsuits sporting name tags, soulfully bringing layers of gorgeous sounding strings, horns, piano, and pedal steel guitar to the personal and emotional lyrics being crooned into the mic. Sam’s voice is so unique and the inflection he uses to accentuate it sounds almost as if Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen had a baby and that child grew up to join The Strawbs.
Prior to this, those in attendance were blessed by an equally moving set of opening performances. In between the endearing stage banter and the wonderfully well-rehearsed guitar solos, Sophie and Emma Stephens graced the stage as Buglando, playing songs that I can only describe as a comfort meal for the soul being fed to me through my ears. I like to think that after that set, at least one person in that crowd went home that night, immediately opened their laptop and purchased themself an omnichord. I myself put one on my Christmas list the following day. What a wild and interesting sounding instrument that is. Hopefully we see more of these being utilized and experimented with in the future.
Local indie folk-rock legend Bush Lotus, with her famous smile, took us away to another land as her soulful, jazzy vocals caressed the audience. Everyone seemed to sit completely still and pay close attention. There is something so clean and tight in Bush Lotus’ sound that every time I see them perform, I am left with this overwhelming feeling of sadness and wanting more. Every note is executed so perfectly and with such precision, you can tell just how carefully these songs are written.
Those two opening acts were the perfect warm-up to an already highly anticipated evening of superbly written tunes. With a catalogue full of perfectly constructed songs spanning across nearly seven years, Sam Singer has to be one of Winnipeg’s most talented writers. It was great to hear his songs fleshed out with all the inner working parts live on stage with The Beautiful Movers Orchestra. Hopefully, this is not the last we see of this whole rat pack rounded up on stage performing these songs. It is too magical of a grouping to be a one-off performance.
