At a mid-winter fest aimed at highlighting the best of the city, Montreal’s Hua Li 化力 and Strange Froots bring the heat.
Stream: “Part Time Muses” – Hua Li 化力
to step through the backdoor of Casa Del Popolo is to enter another world.
Although technically it’s a simple stroll down a claustrophobic hallway, it’s not clear what universe you emerge through. While the front is a cute cocktail bar, the music venue is a smokey delight. The lights are low. The ceiling is tin. The bar is off to the side. The bathrooms are at the back, the stage a nondescript raising at the room’s far end. The soundboard, tucked into the back corner, looks like a pulpit. It’s all standing, but the best location is the left side as there’s a 6 inch bar for drinks and leaning. It’s adorably skuzzy, with no frills but the sense that you’re about to have a great night.
As the location for Montreal’s Taverne Tour, it’s almost too ideal.
The magic was palpable, as local upstarts Strange Froots took the stage – or at least one half of them did. With Naïka Champaïgne out sick, Mags brought twice the energy. At their best, Froots are a throwback neo-soul act, a smooth duo with a lot of attitude and the chops to back it up. Despite being one down, this was on full display. Mags took up the whole stage, stalking the floorboards while alternating between an acid flow and an angelic croon. The crowd jostled and swayed, unsure what was coming next but knowing it was going to hit just right.
Even technological intervention couldn’t stop the good times: A faulty laptop momentarily cut the beats, only for Mags to freestyle a cappella in a moment so organic that it felt like they should do it every show. And in that moment, it demonstrated everything that makes Strange Froots so appealing: The spontaneity of it, the ice in the veins charm, and the sheer talent that drips off every song. Half of the band and a faulty laptop may not have been the dream situation, but Strange Froots made it work all the same.
This also left Hua Li 化力 in a tough spot: A last minute fill-in headliner, following up locals who tore the stage down. We needn’t have worried. Instead, she delivered a lesson in contradictions: In a striking blue pantsuit she drifted around the stage gracefully, alternating between fierce raps and ethereal RnB, talking to the audience before attacking the stage again. All of this was done with a natural poise, the living embodiment of Walt Whitman’s blade of grass. She effortlessly breezed through the set, a hometown crowd completely on her side. It was one of those sets that left you wondering why everything doesn’t know her name.
Even after the last notes had long disappeared, the mysticism still hung thick in the air. A depleted but never defeated Strange Froots set the table, and Hua Li 化力 walked in and ate every last drop. While Taverne Tour is capable of bringing in top talent, its true magic lies in moments like tonight.
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