Patrick Watson

Admittedly I haven’t had heard of Patrick Watson before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I certainly didn’t anticipate this sort of experimental and fairy-tale-telling ambient music.

As Patrick later explained the guys went to school together back in Montreal. They had formed their band seven years ago, which you could tell from the ease with which they played together.

At first I thought they were like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but I soon ditched that thought due to the fact that they, well, simply weren’t. The link was probably down to a few guitar riffs at the beginning and the guys’ magnetic aura. The small Glee Club was the perfect location for Patrick Watson and band to present their music in an intimate setting. They rocked – quietly. I had a hard time figuring out what kind of band they actually reminded me of, the closest I could think of was Air. But then Patrick Watson’s music was a lot crazier in its own subtle way. The harder I tried to create links, the more I thought of miraculous movies like 'Amelie' or 'Big Fish'. I could imagine their songs featuring in Stephen King’s 'It', as some of the synthesizer sound effects were reminiscent of bewitched amusement parks and scary clowns. But as well as thrillers, their music told us beautiful tales of the 'weight of the world' or 'luscious life'. Their lyrics are short but sweet, and I was under the impression that they would rather concentrate on the composition of sounds in order to leave room for interpretation. While Patrick Watson would expose clippings of a story, it was up to the listener to fantasize and that’s pretty much what I did.

I was brought back to reality when the drummer left his drums and started drumming on everything else – the keyboard, the floor, the speakers and even the guitarist’s guitar. The guy looked a bit surprised but quickly played along, while the drummer was scratching the strings with his drumsticks, creating a pleasently odd sound. All improvised, they later claimed. Speaking of odd, the guitarist also picked the strings with various day to day gadgets like electric toothbrushes - pretty cool.

For their last song, the guys dispersed into the room and created fantastic acoustic surround sound while we were hiding with them under the sea – the fish and the sea. Patrick Watson’s music is like a great trip on nothing but music. However be aware that it won’t make sense to you if you don’t know how to dream.