Date: Nov. 24, 2007
Venue: Soundscapes

I’ve got to be honest with you, I haven’t actually heard all of the Acorn’s heralded 2007 release, Glory Hope Mountain. You see, I’m a digital guy (with a penchant for getting my favourite stuff on vinyl) and I can’t find the Ottawa band’s latest album anywhere but iTunes, which poses a problem as I don’t care for DRM-encryption on songs I’ve spent my hard-earned money on…but I digress. What matters is that I’m a big fan of whatever Acorn releases I have heard (the Blankets! EP, for instance, is fantastic) and consequently found myself at their in-store performance at Soundscapes on Saturday evening.

By and large the event conducted itself in a similar vein to that of the Andy Swan performance of a few weeks ago. Just as intimate, amicable and filled with funny banter (founder Rolf Klausener screaming “Stop stealing shit!” after the store’s alarm made its pre-requisite appearance, or dropping an f-bomb without noticing the small child standing at the front of the audience, for instance), the main difference was simply that the Acorn had a more complex set up. Performing as a six-piece, the band incorporated dual drums, ukulele and xylophone among the usual rock-suspects which made for a lush and beautiful set regardless of my unfamiliarity with most of the material.

In fact, even my request for “Blankets” being rebuked didn’t dampen the show one bit, as it became clear during the short set that Glory Hope Mountain is an album I really need to get my hands on in whatever form I can.

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Here are some pictures I took at the show:

Actually, in a second attempt at a live webcast, you can watch the Zunior stream of the in-store performance here (leaps and bounds over the Andy Swan footage, its still an as-yet-perfected art-form).

Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to their gig at the Horseshoe that night, but Chromewaves, the omniscient Toronto blogging institution, was there and you can read that assessment here.