A Sunny Day in Glasgow

3 April 2010 :: The Green Room, Montreal, QC

A couple of things stand out while watching A Sunny Day in Glasgow, a band of which I possess the firm opinion that they represent something relevant and exciting in indie rock. First is that they haven’t broken through to that enormous, peripatetic mass of indie fans that move through Montreal like a storm cloud eating up all of the oxygen: the xx and Serena-Maneesh were playing the same night, and against that kind of competition ASDIG managed about twenty people to hear them on the last stop on a North American tour in support of one of the hands-down best records of 2009. (They didn’t even compete with a Japandroids/Love is All show from the night before, which, set in some shitty, windowless storage locker of a bar, still crammed in at least a hundred people.) The second thing, which became obvious during a broken-string break during which the sparse crowd was treated to an achingly gorgeous impromptu a cappella cover, is that these kids are trained. I’ve got nothing against the xx and Serena-Maneesh, but it was obvious to me which of the three bands has the technical and professional acumen to at least equal their style.

The set was understandably short and sweet, the kind of well-honed thing a band uncomplicatedly sets out on the last stop of an exhaustive tour, as if having burned away all pretensions of showmanship and crowd interaction until all that’s left to display is their wares; their “The White Witch”/“Failure” combo was here employed with expert efficiency, as it seems like it usually is. But you can add a third thing to those that become self-evident as you watch A Sunny Day in Glasgow perform: only two albums in—both of which putting a premium on textures, dabbling, and expansive set lists—and this group has a set mapped out that kills mercilessly. There was surprisingly little jamming, no vanity gestures, just their strongest songs perfectly arranged and effortlessly performed.

They’re off to Europe now, where they can be ignored in Belgium because Neon Indian or some other bullshit is in town, but those few of us lucky enough to take that cab ride will get to hear this band being legit; the real authors of that staggering document that too few people heard last year, slogging it out on the road. It doesn’t get much more essential than saying it’s well worth your fifteen bucks to check them out.