[REVEIW] Whitehorse at The Basement

Review/Photos by: Amber Davis

The tiny venue directly under Grimey’s New & Preloved Music lies The Basement. If you ever been to The Basement, you clearly know the venue does not have the greatest lighting or barely enough room to squeeze towards the bar. However, Ontario, Canada’s duo Whitehorse made us forget about the location.
To the audiences view the band had set up a snare and bass drum, two telephone mics, a keyboard, several electric guitars, acoustic guitars and a bass. Whitehorse played like a six-man folk band with a few right turns and surprises.

Unexpected banging and clanging pots and pans for percussion, humming into recording telephone mics and picking up several other instruments was just to create their background noise. After creating their harmonies and background noise they join each other on the mics - slightly looking at each other with bright smiles on their faces. Their voices intertwined perfectly together, creating a soothing ambiance of a time that hits home.

Half way through their set, Luke Doucet cleverly pulled out his electric guitar and Melissa McClelland placed her bass around her lilac dress silencing the relaxed-folk vibe into a roaring blues-twang kick. While Luke was strumming the electric he was also kicking the bass drum at the same time.

Towards the end of their set they placed a condenser mic in the front of the stage. Luke and Melissa join each side of the mic and started to sing at the exact same time.

Their chemistry was vibrant throughout the whole set. We were impressed by Whitehorse with their versatile talent.

It left us asking “what instruments can Luke and Melissa not play?”