beabadoobee & Lowertown.
Shot by: Sarah Evangelista
Written by: Eva Lynch
December 2, 2022
Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
New York based alt-indie band Lowertown had never performed in Montreal, but from their very first song, they immediately connected with the crowd. Their performance started out softly, with one of the lead vocalists, Olivia, singing their song “It’s It’s It’s” acoustically and having the band slowly join in, the gentle start became electric as the
energy contributed to build throughout their set. They describe their sound as an indie mixture of ‘electronic and lo-fi instrumentation with melancholic, narrative lyrics’ however their performance felt very indie-rock with an edge, playing fast tempos with interspersed moments of screaming. They really wanted to get everyone moving and
dancing with them through their high energy performance.
For a song they alternated the lead vocals and Avsh took over, singing with a tone reminiscent of Jarvis Cocker, with a fast flow and vocals reminiscent of early Brit-Pop, and the duo brought an alternative rock spirit to even their softer indie songs.
The band consists of two guitarists and vocalists, a bassist and drummer, the lead singer of the band and drummer coming from Canada themselves -- apparently they named the band after Lowertown, Ontario, when they came to visit on a trip, and left the crowd with a reminiscent moment of gratitude to be able to play near somewhere which
had inspired them so long ago, on their third to last show on tour.
After Lowertown got the crowd warmed up, beabadoobee came out onto the stage and got right into it. The 22 year-old Filipino-British songwriter has been putting out music since 2017 with her first hit “Coffee” and recently released her second studio album, Beatopia. Beatopia is a dream-like record, where in a review with Talkhouse, she said
“I find words that don’t really make sense but fit perfectly with the melody or just feel nice to say,” and it communicates a feeling above all else. The album is a fantastic world beabadoobee has been building since she was 7, that explores self-acceptance as she ages into a new stage of her life, experimenting with music beyond the teenage
angst and grunge of many of her earlier songs, in a vulnerable and open album she co-wrote with her live guitarist and close friend Jacob Bugden.
Many fans have come to know Beabadoobee from one of her many of her trending songs on social media platforms like TikTok, where her songs like “Coffee'“ have captured millions of hearts -- however what struck me most was as soon as she hit the stage it became clear she does not play to one category or style and sets her own expectations. While known for her dream-pop charm and indie-rock instrumentals, there’s an experimentation with both genre and sound. Her switches in heavy and light tones characterized the transition between different periods of her discography
throughout the night.
Regardless of the song’s style, the band rocked out. With three guitarists on stage, including Beabadoobee herself who has been playing since she was 17, they each built layers or rock to the instrumentals behind her voice which switched effortlessly between singing soft bedroom-pop tunes and grunge indie-rock songs which energized the crowd, showing some of her influences like Pavement and The Cranberries.
While navigating the changes between the styles of her music, beabadoobee delivered an expert performance which really showed her range and talent, and it was moving to see a whole crowd of young fans connect to her music and her as a performer, who has been outspoken about how she never felt represented by the people she’d see in the
music industry, from a young age. She is working to create music that is authentic to her and her vision and it is a pleasure to watch and sing along to.