Preview
THE HIDDEN CAMERAS
Friday, November 21
Liberty Lounge
The Hidden Cameras may be the strangest example of the next big thing to come along since Bowie’s conversion into the bisexual alien Ziggy Stardust.
Somehow, Toronto’s dirty little secret have found themselves profiled in countless music mags and even The Globe and Mail. The group’s debut album, The Smell of Our Own (which follows the self-released collection of demos Ecce Homo) has garnered bushels of complimentary superlatives from every corner of the press and the Hidden Cameras are the first Canadian group ever signed to England’s legendary Rough Trade Records label. The band is built upon front-man Joel Gibb’s notion of an epic gay, church folk music and this time around the hype machine is right on target.
Close in spirit to the choral vibrancy of The Polyphonic Spree (albeit without any chance of a big-time Disney contract and somewhat better songs), the orchestrated pop of Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips The Smell of Our Own is the type of debut to mark Gibb as a talent, equal parts genius pop trickster and winking shock merchant. The band has also been compared to label mates Belle and Sebastian although following a recent short U.S tour together, Gibb reckons, "We rocked out more and had more theatrical stuff." While the tumbling strings and handclaps of "Ban Marriage" and uber-addictive "Breathe On It" crossbreed Jonathan Richman and The Violent Femmes with Belle and Sebastian’s twee hipster swing, album highpoint "Boys Of Melody" fades out on a choral surge that gives the Polyphonics a run for their money. It’s the type of joyous pop gem countless other songwriters would kill to pull off – in Gibb’s hands, it’s effortless perfection.
Lyrically, The Hidden Cameras hold nothing back. Openly gay, Gibb’s love songs boldly mention everything from "old cum on the rug" to adventures in "a bathroom stall with a friend or a man with a hard-on." It’s not all purely in the name of shock value – album-closer "The Man That I Am With My Man" is a portrait of human connection stripped bare, so sweet and honest it’s universal.
For this, the group’s first visit to Ralph Klein’s Alberta, Gibb hopes to keep the focus strictly on the music. "I think it would be really lame if I hid my sexuality and was a typical asexual indie kid. Boring! I am not a gay activist – the music is the most important thing. I’ve never been to Alberta, and while I hope there are some gay kids to play to, I make music for people who like melodic music. The lyrics are only there if you want to discover them," says Gibb.
Still, consider it a fitting silent protest (or even service to your fellow human) to take The Smell of Our Own to the top of the charts for the next 52 weeks, until all of modern society has it memorized verbatim. Personally, I can’t wait until I hear a busload of kids singing along to the lyrical coda of "Ban Marriage." "There is splendour in the harshness of bum" – and it’s got a beat I’m sure even Klein could dance to.
Placing a somewhat more adult spin on The Flaming Lips’ patented brand of gig-as-birthday-party, the Hidden Cameras’ live shows have long been noted for their choice of venue (surprising: churches from whom there’s been "no negative response" as of yet – not so surprising: porn theatres), a constantly revolving and changing band lineup, lyrical sing-along projections, and underwear-clad go-go dancers sporting balaclavas and animal masks.
Unlike The Flaming Lips (whose stage show, despite how impressive, gives you exactly what you expected before even walking through the door), Gibb’s main priority in live performance is based on an each-time-is-different approach rooted in his past studies in semiotics.
"Nothing is static with the band. My semiotics background got me really interested in making a show more than just a band playing songs. From the beginning I was interested in involving theatrical elements and using art in as many aspects of the music as I could."
Despite the performances and the lyrics, the symbolism and the hype, if there’s any message to take from The Hidden Cameras, it’s Gibb’s earnest suggestion, "Don’t die wondering." Is there anything as universal as that? |
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