Land of Talk ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

I was worried there for a while. But I’m not worried anymore.

Over the last few years Montreal’s Land of Talk have remained high on my list of bands poised to swoon the masses, and when news of lead singer Lizzie Powell’s impending vocal surgery hit the net, it was about the last thing I wanted to hear. What would vocal surgery do to one of the most unique voices making music today? So last Thursday’s show at the High Dive was a tentative moment for me, for no other reason than confirming for myself that this Saddle Creek threesome haven’t lost their edge in time they’ve been recovering on the down low.

All indications pointed toward this night as being one of the band’s better nights of a short West Coast tour; there were far more in attendance than the nine people Powell admitted to expecting, and smiles were the unexpected theme of the night. Smiles and Powell’s goofy guitar faces, with her tongue just barely sticking out as she bites it in moments of deep concentration, or a puckered up grin shared with one of her band mates during a quality moment. There were a lot of those. Hardly rote or labored, Land of Talk looked to be having a ton of fun up there.

And the audience matched the band’s enjoyment. Powell and the band seemed genuinely impressed with the amount of devotion on display. One fan made a four hour drive to catch the show on her birthday and she was duly acknowledged from the stage, as were many of those of us in the audience who knew the words and shouted requests. This wasn’t a show people wandered in to, these weren’t people who showed up at the High Dive by happenstance. These were people who came for Land of Talk and for Powell’s unique vocals and I among them didn’t leave disappointed or in doubt of her voice. If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t have guessed they’d missed beat, much less nearly a year.

Land of Talk ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Land of Talk ::: Photo by Josh Lovseth

Flickr: Land of Talk at the High Dive