Aidan Knight's big Toronto reveal of Small Reveal - Mod Club (Feb 1/13)

It was a surprisingly, and amazingly, attentive audience for Aidan Knight's early opening set at the Mod Club in Toronto on Friday night. Yes, he was acting in a supporting role for Hannah Georgas but [spoiler alert] he stole the show with his orchestral arrangements of hauntingly beautiful songs and revealing lyrics sung in earnest. The five-piece played the A-side of the most excellent, late-2012 release, Small Reveal, by opening with the quiet intro to Dream Team. Here the violin was accentuated and even the soft female backing vocals made their subtle inclusion known before the percussionist finally swapped in his guitar for sticks, and the violin for bass. As the set progressed I could see likenesses to fellow Vancouverite, Dan Mangan, though the hooks aren't quite as emphasized (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). While we're doing comparisons, the well-documented act of building from soft to crashing loud was performed just as well as anyone - akin to Patrick Watson but with a guitar instead of Patrick's primary piano. Mesmerizing from the beginning it only continued to engage through the faithful rendition of A Mirror. The female on keys also brought out brass to flesh out the sound and another lady joined in with her trombone on You Will See the Good in Everyone. 

Aidan has a likable confidence that won over the aforementioned well-behaved crowd and he joked that he didn't even need to curse at us to quiet down before playing Margaret Downe solo with just his guitar to a warm response. Promising to close with two songs from his back-catalogue the band returned for Versicolour's closer, Jasper, and a perhaps ill-advised singalong attempt. On the final song all hands were on deck as the trombonist was once again smiling as they crashed the set to a close. Too bad they couldn't have continued but as I mentioned to Aidan after the show - he needs to return to Toronto soon for a set of his own. Hell, if that CMW showcase at a place like the 'Shoe that we mused about were to happen we could probably get that singalong to work. Come back and we'll give it a shot.