Norvaisa 10-30-11

by David Holland

I was sitting in a quiet apartment in Brooklyn on the day before Halloween wondering what I could entertain myself with before the run came to an end. I knew my time having a free apartment was coming to an end & I wanted to take advantage of it before heading back to dreaded Long Island.

When it comes time to decide what activity to partake in, anything music related will usually be near or at the top of the list. This day was no different as I decided to do one of my usual numbers, find a random indie show to attend. So I browsed all the usual spots & decided to head to Cake Shop in the Lower East Side to check out Norvaisa which is the new project from Todd Macdonald, the founding member of The Winks.

Their Bandcamp page tagged the music as being "dreamy pop folk mandolin thrash Montréal" which peaked my curiosity. So with not knowing much else, I headed over as what is the worst that could happen, the show would be terrible? It was a free show & the only thing I would lose is time which I had plenty of that night anyhow.

I get there & as I expected, the room had very few people in it. I tend to like it that way as I am a sucker for an intimate set. Todd came to the stage with his trusty mandolin & a good friend who played guitar. The entire set had a very subdued feel to it which fits the Cake Shop very well considering how the stage is lit. The stage banter was brief but what we did get gave off a vibe of people not being too serious & enjoying the moment for what it was, a good time with good music being the headliner.

My favorite song of the set by far was Orange Achilles which I highly recommend checking out since it is available on their Elastic Fountains EP available on Bandcamp. The coolest moment would have to be when he invited a couple of friends to sing on a new song. You could tell that it was new & never rehearsed. However even with the awkwardness of performing a new song on the fly, the genuine feeling of just going with the flow was clearly evident.

Who knows when Norvaisa will be back in town to play but when they are, I will try my best to make it down & you should as well.