Montreal, Canada
The Montreal-based band Plajia was giving a concert at the Petit Campus last Saturday. For those of you who don’t know their music, you really should consider subscribing to this podcast or check the band’s website. 

Their sound is often compared to Radiohead (Patrick Pleau’s voice is helping a lot) even though, according to my girlfriend, Thom Yorke and his friends can give up. Nevertheless, Plajia distinct itself on the progressive quality of their music, which is proiminent, and their «living room ambience» that they achieved by using lampshades.

I knew some of their songs for having consulted their MySpace last summer, and the tune Cecilia’s Children was my favorite, with its surf guitar during the bridge, reminding the one performed by Dick Dale in the song Misirlou (better known as the Pulp Ficiton movie theme). Hearing that song at the beginning of the show (it was the second song of the night) made me fall down my chair; maybe this song was so intense that I would have prefered it to be last? However, putting this up-beat song first was a good way to wake up a particulary calm crowd, like they weren’t able to appreciate the quality and potential of this somehow unknown band.

This wasn’t my first rock show. Though it was the first time that I could finally witness a live performance of exceptional quality, that surpass what was recorded by the very same band as part of their demo. The experience of Patrick Pleau, bassist Bryan Ortiz and drummer Jean-François Lefoll is undeniable, the band must have been practicing / performing these songs for so long, some of their recordings were made in 2004.

The balance of these partners in crime on stage is what put Plajia in a different field than your typical rock band since the three musicians all shares the spotlight. Patrick is of course singing, while playing guitar or piano at the same time. He also talks about the context of each songs. J-F. on his side jokes with the crowd and takes responsability of turning on the «living room» lights when necessary. Bryan is the only one that is able to move a little, he sometimes jumps up and down on every notes he hit, like his bass was pushing him backward. On top of that, a feminine touch, by Roxanne Gadoua, is added to the mix for a block of 3 or 4 songs near the end, allowing richer results in combining piano to the singing guitarist.

Yeah, I loved the show. The only negative things that I have observed doesn’t apply on the band (the musical mix before the show sounded really weird, the party behind us was quite loud during the opening act and the vast majority of the crowd didn’t seem to enjoy the show as much as they should have.

Plajia was informing us recently that they were in studio for the recording of some songs from their catalog, as well as new stuff. They will be producing their first real album independantly, with all the advantages and the disadvantages that this causes… Plajia : a balanced trio