Recap Sunset Rubdown at High Noon Saloon

When Montreal’s Sunset Rubdown kicked off its Tuesday set at the High Noon Saloon with “The Empty Threats Of Little Lord,” The A.V. Club noticed something goofy about the buzzing drone intro that filled the room. A bystander leaned over and asked us, “What in the hell is that girl rubbing on her bell-set?” A closer look revealed that the girl—keyboardist-vocalist Camilla Wynne Ingr—was using a silver vibrator to generate shimmering purrs from both her bell-set and a couple of cymbals.

With or without sex toys, Sunset Rubdown consistently harnessed this kind of clever ingenuity to make its epic tunes progress and modulate in an utterly distinguished way. Multi-tasking bandleader Spencer Krug shook with intensity as he sung and picked away at his guitar. “If I ever hurt you, it will be in self-defense,” he belted. In contrast, more than half of the audience stood around like a bunch of disgruntled employees listening to their CEO discuss the new snack machine at a mandatory staff meeting.

Everyone in the band was constantly switching instruments—or, in the case of drummer Jordan Robson-Cramer, playing two at once. Under the palm-muted chords of “Idiot Heart,” Robson-Cramer nailed melodies on a synthesizer while simultaneously pounding away at his drum kit. Ingr colored in Krug’s vocal hiccups with vocal harmonies in “Silver Moons” and latched into the wandering melody of “Black Swan” with a synthesizer, as bassist Marc Nicol beat on a percussion kit. The set pulled bits from this year’s Dragonslayer and Introducing Moonface EP, as well as 2007’s Random Spirit Lover and 2006’s Shut Up I Am Dreaming.

The crowd howled excitedly near the end of the show when Robson-Cramer, who had switched over to guitar at this point, began ripping through the opening line of “Mending Of The Gown.” Krug hammered his keyboard through the song's tangled chord progression as he howled, “See the paddle go up and the paddle go down!”

Up until the end of the set, there wasn’t a whole lot of stage banter from Krug and company. Apparently, Sunset Rubdown was ordered to make sure its set ended in time for the High Noon's weekly dose of Gomeroke (live-band karaoke with The Gomers), which actually meant cutting it short—often the case with early Tuesday-night shows at the High Noon, though on the plus side they usually start on-time. “Well, it’s 8:46 on a Tuesday night. We could go catch a movie,” Krug joked. “Apparently we have to be done in time for karaoke, so we only have a few songs left. [Audience boos.] We’re going to do our own karaoke now—you know—where we play songs the songs that we wrote.”

The band closed with the 10-minute-plus epic “Dragon’s Lair,” then left the stage with the intention of doing an encore. But, to the surprise of the audience, the band was denied the encore and music started blaring out of the house PA. Finally, a disappointed Robson-Cramer walked back onstage and addressed the audience; “We really wanted to play one more, but we were told that we can’t. Sorry guys, maybe next time.” After that, the angry gathering actually booed in unison for about five minutes—strange behavior for people who barely moved throughout an incredibly fun and rousing show—before finally giving up and heading toward the merchandise table.