North by East West

Char2d2, consisting of Charla McCutcheon (Bella) on guitar and Eric Breitenbach (Lefinn, Heatwave) on drums, opened for Victoria band Immaculate Machine Saturday, September 12 at the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver. I was truly blown away by their set, as I had gone in with no expectations and very little knowledge beyond name recognition.
For this reviewer, there are a few things you need to check off in order to deem a set truly excellent.
As for them?
- Packed dance floor after only a few songs: check
- Responsive crowd: check
- Band members sincerely enjoying their time playing together: check (big grins all around)
- Presence of other musicians: check (rumors have it that Tegan of Tegan and Sara was around)
- Positive audience bathroom reviews: check

What truly caught me off guard was the ability of this duo to fill up the lounge with more energy and sonic presence than many considerably larger bands I've seen. Charla's guitars did not seem sparse even without the presence of bass, and Eric kept the rhythm driving and pounding throughout their much-too-short set.

Below is the set list of songs that they played, mostly off their Small Vampires EP (except for the starred ones):

Only Man For Me
You Are A Small Vampire
Don't Want To
I Am Safe
B-Day Girl**
Some Will Have To Go
Torn Apart**
Take and Send

Since grabbing a copy of it at the show, I've been listening to Char2d2's debut EP Small Vampires (what is it with vampires anyway?) on repeat. It's a disc full of lovely romantic pop ditties that are guaranteed to stick in your head.

I cursed myself for not putting the album on my iPod as I was humming You Are A Small Vampire the entire commute to school and back. And why not? Charla has an excellent sense of melody, which is combined with a lovely girlish voice, bright melodies and sweet choruses such as,

can I be the one that you wake up at 6am?
and we talk to the clouds till we fall back asleep again

The result is an uplifting album which will make you vow to love your cherished ones just a little bit more.

The Small Vampires EP, like their set at the Biltmore, is short and sweet, and ends much too quickly. It leaves you smiling but wanting more, like a single forkful of cake. Hurry up with the full length please!

Small Vampires was written and co-produced by Charla McCutcheon, with the other half of that producing team being Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara.

Char2d2 will be playing at Victoria's Rifflandia Music Festival on Saturday Sept. 26 at the Metro Theatre. Make sure you catch them; you will not regret it!

You can buy Small Vampires at Maple Music or on iTunes.
You can find Charla of Char2d2 on MySpace and Twitter.

Labels: album review, Char2d2, Immaculate Machine, Rifflandia, setlist, shows reviews, Tegan and Sara, Twitter