By Sally Warburton & Photography by Lisa Sakulensky
Koerner Hall had a full house Thursday night for the Dragonette with Tiny Sun concert.
Dragonette is a Canadian electronic music band. Formed in 2005 in Toronto, Ontario, the group is led by Canadian singer-songwriter Martina Sorbara. They achieved international success and worked with various global producers, but they are fundamentally rooted in the Canadian music scene. Sorbara’s musical career started over 30 years ago when she built her own guitars and sewed her own clothes. An honoured figure in Canadian music, celebrated by the Junos and known worldwide for her electronic pop music and her massive hit ‘Hello’. She has headlined shows worldwide with Duran Duran, New Order, Ke$sha and Mike Snow. Sorbara met Don Rooke, her Tiny Sun collaborator early in her career. Along with composer Jonathan Goldsmith the three of them created a full album of 17 experimental tracks, each under two minutes, unfolding the framed artworks. These songs were shaped from instrumental sketches passed back and forth via email. Tiny Sun was born.
Tiny Sun is a collection of songs each less than 2 minutes long. Martina Sorbara, vocals. Davide Direnzo on drums. Don Rooke, kona & lap steel guitar. Jonathan Goldsmith, piano, pump organ. Rebecca Campbell vocal, Maggie Keogh vocal. Jim McGrath, composer, arranger and conductor (Toronto based, best known for his film and television work.) and the Royal Conservatory Orchestra.
About Tiny Sun: Love is an experience that exists outside of time. When it ends, reality rushes back in, and time reveals itself in unimaginably harsh ways. What once felt suspended becomes measured; every moment is newly felt. Tiny Sun, a collaboration between Dragonette, Don Rooke and Jonathan Goldsmith, uses time as both constraint and subject. With every piece clocking in at under two minutes, duration becomes the only prevailing constant. These brief compositions sharpen the ache and ghostliness of love lost, mirroring the way memory arrives in fragments: intense, fleeting and impossible to hold.
The evening was one of music, spoken word, singing, avant garde music sounds. The spirit of the evening was to give the listener different music experiences. Different from the past 25 years of pop music. Music was relaxing while Sorbara used dramatic poses with her arm movements. It was fresh and new and her voice was almost Kate Bush style.Before the last song, Sorbara said Let’s Party and continue the evening after the concert with the DJ in the foyer bar area, inviting people to come to say hello to her at that time. Her last song ‘I came to say Hello’ brought the house to their feet – standing and clapping to her hit song. It was a unique and enjoyable evening with the sold out crowd at Koerner Hall. And Koerner Hall is such a beautiful venue. A unique music hall gem in Toronto. A very memorable evening of music.
BKonthescene 