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I had been listening to The Hidden Cameras' 'Mississauga Goddamn' album on repeat for the last couple of weeks. I love their 60s pop for the melancholic undertone in all their joyfulness, and of course for their lyrics - who else has ever written so poetically about gay sex and piss games? The seeming plainness and honesty of lines about secret fears (like "hunting hair to find emotional grace / I am scared you'll see my body and know that removing hair has taken over my life") combined with the easy approachable sing-along folk they play makes them irresistible.
I had read about their live shows with costumes and dancers and my expectations were a bit too high: there wasn't as much interaction with the audience as I wished for but it was pure enthusiastic 60s pop fun with simple infectious melodies spiced up by cello, violins, glockenspiel and tambourines, and they are really cute to watch: they have the coolest drummer in ages (10 out of 10 points for posing, lady!), the bald violin player hopped up and down grinning from one ear to another, the only rather static person in the band was the leader: Joel Gibb just stood there in front of them, sang and looked good and was serious while behind him the rest of the band had lots of fun. The 'show' parts with the whole band playing dead or all of them playing one song with eyes covered by a red cloth, well, those parts were a bit restrained but nice nevertheless. Not that I don't like what Joel Gibb is doing - especially as his voice and lyrics are The Hidden Cameras - but I caught myself wondering about what this band could do if it wasn't just one guy writing all the songs but as a real collective throwing their ideas together.
I had read about their live shows with costumes and dancers and my expectations were a bit too high: there wasn't as much interaction with the audience as I wished for but it was pure enthusiastic 60s pop fun with simple infectious melodies spiced up by cello, violins, glockenspiel and tambourines, and they are really cute to watch: they have the coolest drummer in ages (10 out of 10 points for posing, lady!), the bald violin player hopped up and down grinning from one ear to another, the only rather static person in the band was the leader: Joel Gibb just stood there in front of them, sang and looked good and was serious while behind him the rest of the band had lots of fun. The 'show' parts with the whole band playing dead or all of them playing one song with eyes covered by a red cloth, well, those parts were a bit restrained but nice nevertheless. Not that I don't like what Joel Gibb is doing - especially as his voice and lyrics are The Hidden Cameras - but I caught myself wondering about what this band could do if it wasn't just one guy writing all the songs but as a real collective throwing their ideas together.
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