Giving you more of what you love: Timber Timbre and Low Anthem at St James Hall

When you go see one of your favorite artists you crave more of the unique parts that specifically made them stand out in the first place. When I go see Elliott Brood I want more dancing (and of course more wooden spoons and cookie sheets). When I go see Great Lake Swimmers I want more of Tony Dekkers voice. When I (do) go see I want more of him plucking rhytmic acoustic guitar melodies. The distinctive characteristics which make your favorite bands stick out in your mind need to be on clear display the first time you see them, in order to ensure complete satisfaction.
I recently went to St. James Hall to see Timber Timbre, a favorite new sound from 2009. Timber Timbre has a very unusual sound and therefore does not lack in the uniqueness which I describe above. His live performance did such a great job of highlighting this that it was a rare case of an artist fulfilling lofty expectations with a live show.
Timber Timbres voice, distinctly recognizable from his recordings, grew even more into one of the best new voices in Canadian music. From the small complexities, the quick pitch raises at the end of words, to the overall haunting sound already his voice was on clear display.
It was also evident that although his voice was the leading character, he allowed the instruments accompanying him to show off their talent and support the overall strength of the performance. The violin and lap steel were played in orchestral solos which contributed greatly to his unique songs. He usually separated the instrumental arrangements from his voice to allow both his voice and his music to stand out. This allowed me to get more of what I came for. A video of him performing at SXSW (the huge music festival in Texas can be seen below).
The other group were the american band The Low Anthem. This group played musical chairs with the different instruments on stage. The lead singer had three different voices: the high pitched voice creating a very light sound (seen below in the video), the normal folk acoustic voice and the folk rock voice for the more upbeat songs. The ease at which he switched between these completely different sounding voices was what I most marveled at during their set. Great band and quite memorable songs.