Photography by David Pitz. Check out more photos from this show and others HERE.
On record, as is the case in their
Saddle Creek debut
Hometowns,
The Rural Alberta Advantage are a fiery, Indie pop group, with guitars streaking unrefined, the drums swirling with immense and catastrophic stick work, and singer
Niles Edenloff scratching at the ears with a flailing, sandpaper sort of vocal approach. It's a make-up made ever more impressive by a firm commitment to melody...multi-instrumentalist/vocalist
Amy Cole providing the vitals in that department.
It's a wicked combination that had us thoroughly excited to catch them for the first time during their opening set for Passion Pit this past Friday night at Terminal 5. And though I've defended T5 from the damn near universal scorn it tends to take since opening ("It
can sound great!", I say. "Bands look amazing there!", I insist), the venue everyone loves to hate reared its' ugly head last Friday, providing a less than ideal setting for this promising trio. There, in the vast caverns of the airline-like hanger, the starving energy, brittle beauty, and endearing passion that punctuates
Hometowns was lost, vaguely floating somewhere over the constant drone of teenage chit chat. The crowd, it seemed, had come for Passion Pit. Not surprising...at all. But with a bit more focus, and a little interest, the youngsters in attendance could have had a little more to tell their parents and friends at night's end. I'm guessing things went a little better for the RAA during their two-set run on the Mercury Lounge Saturday night. -
David Pitz
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Pictures: The Rural Alberta Advantage at Terminal 5
The Rural Alberta Advantage on Myspace