A review and photos of Aysanabee at Neat Cafe

[Ross MacDonald covered the show at one of the coolest rural venues in all of Canada. – AC]

Fresh off winning the Juno award for best alternative album, Aysanabee is crossing the country on a headlining tour promoting his new album ‘Timelines’, which is a collection of acoustic re-recordings of six of his favourite singles. And on Wednesday 15 April stopped at Neat Coffee Shop in Burnstown. This was his first time on the stage of Neat’s century old schoolhouse; a venue that has hosted The Trews, Bif Naked, The Sheepdogs, 54.40, and countless others.

Aysanabee went up on the stage to introduce the opening artist: it was his friend and frequent collaborator Lala Noel.

Lala waved to the crowd, briefly talked about her recent hobby of crocheting (showing off her purse that she made herself), and picked up her guitar. She seemed a little nervous at first, but that all disappeared when she started playing and singing, wow!

Lala’s second song, ‘It Is’,  was a master class in live looping and vocal effects. Lala started off with a quick introduction and demonstration of her looping  machine. It was an acapella love song with operatic singing. Her soulful sound is reminiscent of the powerful and precise vocals of Annie Lennox.

Those in the front rows missed some of the vocal effects. Lala was changing the distance of the mic from her mouth which when looped gave a change in intensity. But her voice is so strong that for those up front only heard her pitch perfect power.

Lala talked about how she feels privileged living in peace and physical security. In celebration, she wrote ‘Sometimes The Body Just Moves’ about having the ability to get out and protest, talking about a better world that is coming. It is refreshing to hear optimistic protest; Lala is starting a new melodic punk movement.

After performing a cover of Radiohead’s beautiful song ’15 Step’, Lala closed her 40 minute set with “this is my grandma’s favourite song: ‘A Thousand Goodbyes’”. Again Lala did some more live looping, and it is easy to see why it was her grandmother’s fave, it brought everyone in the hall to a standing ovation at the close of her set.

With no fanfare, Aysanabee walked up onto the small stage at Neat, very unassuming, slung his guitar, and got down to work. For the first few songs it was just Aysanabee, alone with his acoustic guitar, stomp-box, and his voice. His voice. Wow. Nothing can prepare you for how a singer can fill the hall with such power and emotion. The sold out crowd was hanging onto every note. 

Aysanabee is a storyteller. Not just with his music, but also between songs he captivated the audience with stories that were humorous, or horrifying, and sometimes both.

He apologised for the lack of merch on the table at the entrance to Neat. “I am just in from Edmonton where they bought up most of my merch.” That isn’t a terrible problem to have.

“I’m so blessed to have an incredible community of friends that inspire me. But sometimes the things that you’re not so stoked on become little blessings as well. I remember growing up in a trailer in Northern Ontario. It didn’t have a wall because we were trying to build additions, there was a thick plastic separating us from -45 degrees, and there was no electricity. But there was a guitar. So I played that guitar. Sometimes the things that you aren’t stoked on lead to incredible things, eventually. I’m going to bring it back, in the spirit of ‘Timelines’, to a song I wrote while learning how to play the guitar by watching the internet at my friend’s house in the city. A song about remembering to appreciate the good things that you do have.”

‘The Dawn’ was an opportunity not only to showcase Aysanbee’s vocal range, he demonstrated that he is also a guitar virtuoso; picking, tapping, lightning fast runs, and beautiful harmonics.

“I started doing covers lately. And by lately I mean at the Junos (a month prior to this concert). CBC asked me to cover a nominated artist. I prepared three covers, one by Leon Bridges, ‘Brother Down’ by Sam Roberts, and ‘Yukon’ by Justin Bieber.” Unfortunately there were technical issues with the recording equipment, so the interview and songs played on CBC radio were lost. Aysanabee continued “But later that night Jim Cuddy held a jam at a hotel ballroom. Jim asked me to do a song. I’m going to do an old folk song about the Yukon.”

A highlight of the evening was Aysanabee’s story about his very near death experience while working in the bush in Northern Ontario. “I wrote this song when I moved to Toronto; it was a pivotal time. I was comfortable in Thunder Bay and working in the bush. I had a near death experience snowshoeing in the bush. I am usually very aware of my surroundings, but I was listening to a Feist record. And had I paid more attention, I would have noticed that the frozen river I was walking on was close to a lake, where the ice is thinner, and so I fell through. I thought that was it for me. I was really cold. My nearest coworker was 10km away through the forest. I’m breaking the ice as I’m trying to get across. I’m getting slower, losing feeling. I was ‘this is where my story ends’. I was like ‘if I am going to get out of here, I’m going to move to Toronto and make music’. I thought that was my story and I didn’t do enough at the time. So I made myself a promise. I made it across and I dried off. I snowshoed back to camp and we finished the job. Three months later I bought a one-way ticket to Toronto to play music. I wrote this song in this bush tent, with a bunch of roughnecks who were saying ‘why does he keep singing that song?’ The song I wrote was ‘Near To Death’.”

After that Aysanabee showed his vulnerable side with a stripped down acoustic version of his big hit single ‘Somebody Else’. This song won him a 2024 Juno for Songwriter of the Year. This was the version in his new EP ‘Timelines’.

After that was another great story. “I was in Victoria for a music festival. I took a taxi from the airport to the hotel, and the cab driver noticed the guitar cases and said he played in a local band. He asked if he might have heard any of my music. My reply was ‘You are listening to one of my songs on the radio right now.’ The song playing was ‘Alone’. That was a super cool experience.”

Aysanabee is not afraid to share the spotlight. He brought along guitarist Nick Tateishi with him. Nick produced the ‘Timelines’ EP. Aysanabee talked about how Nick is always noodling on his guitar, even while waiting for flights in airports. So Aysanabee introduced this segment of the show as “Nick bits”. He said that Nick could play other artists’ songs, but in a different genre. First up was Taylor Swift in grunge. (I’m not sure of the name of the song, she is not on any of my playlists). The crowd felt that he nailed it with the power chords. Next up was an audience request for ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ as a folk song. Even with his electric guitar it did have a light folk feel. He concluded with a request for Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ in the style of bossa nova. Of course he nailed the laid-back Brazilian vibe.

Aysanabee talked about the inspiration for his hit single  ‘Edge Of The Earth’. He was brought to the national theatre in Genoa Italy as a foreign artist, to play there for three nights. That was followed by a tour of Italy. On a day off, he walked through Barletta in south-east Italy. There he sat on a knoll whose beauty felt like the ‘Edge Of The Earth’.

For the last two songs, Aysanabee invited Lola back onto the stage. “We wrote this song together, ’Home’. I have to have my hands, and my spirit in the songs I write. Lola and I were going through some of the same things. This is an anthem to letting go.”

The final song of the night came off Aysanabee’s first LP, an ode to his grandfather ‘Wantin’. “There was a cathartic moment capturing my grandfather’s stories. This is a mountain I climbed, this is a moment. 

This is a new version of that rock song, ‘Nomads’.” The song had a slow build-up, with lots of reverb in the guitars and vocals that filled the hall. It was fitting to end the concert where it all began with Aysanabee and his conversations with his grandfather.

And ever generous, after the show Aysanabee hung out on stage, then back at the merch table talking with his fans. This show was a fitting welcome to spring in Eastern Ontario.