First show in six months? New guitar player? How could I not drag my ass out the door, rainy Thursday or otherwise, to go see Nu Sensae’s return to the stage, especially since they were also playing with local chums White Lung (and the five dollar cover sure didn’t hurt either).
I hadn’t seen either band since a stop they made in my former home of Edmonton a few years-ish ago and was definitely looking forward to seeing them share the stage again, this time on home turf.
Peace warmed things up a bit, though it never really got above luke-warm. I really dug their sound; a bit of Johnny Marr jangle, Cure gloom (sans lipstick and eye shadow) with tribally repetitive percussion. The vocals, however, came off a bit too droney and at times kind of fragmented in a Captain Kirk-like manner. I get that they were doing a neo-goth sort of thing, trying to move as little as possible on stage and look as disinterested as they could, but it didn’t make for the most riveting performance. That being said, I wouldn’t really mind seeing them again.
I wasn’t sure when I arrived at the mostly empty club what the turnout was going to be like for a dismal and wet week night but it appears the rest of Vancouver was clued-in to the late start up time as the place was well filled by the time White Lung hit the stage. Not really anticipating the crowd’s enthusiasm, I was stuck a ways back from the stage and due to the Biltmore’s ridiculous tunnel-like quality, couldn’t see very well. Regardless of this lack of view, all a person had to do was look at the energetic mass of people on the dance floor getting their sweat on to see that White Lung was putting on a top notch performance. I was a bit disappointed that none of the bands had any merch available as I was hoping to pick up a copy of their acclaimed Deranged Records full length “It’s The Evil”, but judging by the volume of new songs they played, I’m sure I’ll get another chance in the near future.
Not wanting to make the same mistake twice, I grabbed a couple Cariboo and found a perch right by the stage for Nu Sensae’s turn at bat, and it appeared like I wasn’t the only one as the crowd degenerated into a Cariboo soaked mess. New axe-man Brody McKnight, formerly of Mutators, was welcomed with cheers and many tossed beers as the new (nu?) trio ripped through a set of frightening and frantic ragers with Andrea Lukic’s terrifying screams permeating every distorted note. Simply delightful. Unfortunately time was marching on, as it tends to do, and closing time was fast approaching so their set was shamefully short. They departed once and then returned for a very brief and hilarious version of Green Day’s “When I Come Around”, while getting playfully pelted throughout with cans of Caribou at various degrees of fullness. Brody took a quick moment to graciously give them all back before they fired into one more and said good night. What a great guy!
All in all, it was a nice return and a great warm up before they head out on the road for a month supporting recent-big-deal EMA. Between the new member, new songs and next tour, it’s sure to be a stellar year for Nu Sensae.
Red-Face Bag-Eyes Good Vibrations 