Emma Anderson
Daily Herald Contributor
Prince Albert’s Soulfather opened the night for the Fortune Killers Thursday evening at the Rock Trout Café with expressions about locality.
Soulfather’s two members, Abraham Lancaster and Stephen Williams, expressed enthusiasm for local support, local music and local business while on stage and after the show. “It’s just great to have Rock Trout as a venue to support and nurture local talent … local business is great,” Lancaster said.
Soulfather’s entrancing and layered, dream-like vibe mixes the futuristic sounds found in electronica with the classic grit of an electric guitar. While almost surf at times, the duo reach from moments of restrained palm muting and controlled melody to an all-out letting loose with swirling layers, a pounding heartbeat-like percussion and enough tone to make any rock guitarist overjoyed.
Fortune Killers took the stage shortly after Soulfather, with their lead singer warming up to jazz standard Feelin’ Good amidst the sounds of a Korg keyboard, drums and guitar.
Thursday’s performance marked the band’s first gig on a 26-stop album release tour, with appearances scheduled for Canadian Music Week in Toronto and the band’s debut in the Maritimes.
It’s the Fortune Killers’ second tour, and not their first time in Prince Albert; they played the Rock Trout previously in October, also with Soulfather.
“We had such a good time that we were really excited to come back” said lead singer Felicia Harding.
She also spoke about the importance of local support: “It’s so important to support the local music scene and be aware of that when you’re a musician… just getting everything going and supporting each other … we have that going on in Victoria.”
Band mates Brett Faulkner and Ariel Tseng echoed the sentiment and suggested that playing in smaller communities draws a more engaged audience, “we always make sure we play lots of small towns,” Tseng said. “It’s usually the smaller towns and cities that are the best to play because people are just supportive. In Toronto it’s no big deal, there are so many bands that come through.”
The group’s current tour isn’t its first brush with bigger centres; the Fortune Killers were mentioned in Rolling Stone as “one of Victoria’s best up-and-coming acts.”
The group describes itself as “the lovechild of Lana Del Ray and Metric,” according to Harding.
And when asked about their musical likes and dislikes, the lead singer said, “our sound is really cultivated out of all those differences and where we find our common ground. We all love the band Metric, so that’s been a bit of our archetypal band.”
The group’s soaring vocals, and elegant on-stage dramatics coupled with an energized soundscape created a well occupied dance floor on Thursday night.
Fortune Killer’s new album Temper Temper is now available for download and purchase.
For those interested in the group’s upcoming shows and tour dates, Harding said to check its social media feeds.
