Boyhood / Uh Huh

Boyhood (Central Frontenac)

Uh Huh (Toronto) FKA Teenanger

+ special guest TBA

co-presented by First Crush Promotion

Tickets $15 advance + service fees.

No one turned away. Pay-what-you-can options available (email [email protected] to arrange PWYC ticket)

Licensed / all ages

Thanks to Ontario Creates for support of this event

This event takes place on the stolen land of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people. If you support our programming, please consider also donating to a local Indigenous organization or fundraiser. Learn more about this land acknowledgement and find educational resources and ways to support at www.debaser.ca/land-acknowledgement

Donations will be collected at the event for Minwaashin Lodge Programs.

Before attending the event, complete a COVID-19 self-screening. If you do not pass the self-screening, please STAY AT HOME.

The following are strongly recommended for attendees of this event to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission:

• take an at-home antigen test before arriving on site. Antigen tests are currently available for free from many Ph*rm*cy and grocery store locations (find out more here).
• take at least two doses of approved COVID-19 vaccinations received at least two weeks prior to the event
• wear a KN95 face mask over the mouth and nose at all times while at the event (we will have a limited number of free masks available for audience members)
• wash your hands or use the provided hand sanitizer often

COVID-19 policy is subject to change based on government and venue regulations and guidelines.

LIVE on Elgin is unfortunately located up a flight of stairs, and so is not accessible to everyone. There are both single-stall gender neutral and gendered bathrooms at the venue.

Attendees, artists and staff are expected to respect one another. Zero tolerance for violence, aggression, oppressive behaviour or language, or bullying. If you are currently implicated in an accountability process, please ensure you are respecting the space and well-being of those you have affected.

Caylie Runciman lives at the end of a long dirt road in Central Frontenac, Ontario. She has released music under the name Boyhood since 2011, when her lo-fi cassette releases earned her slots at festivals and showcases across Canada and the United States. Her songs are a signature combination of opposing elements: catchy and heartbreaking; relatable and alien.

Runciman’s 2018 album Bad Mantras saw her surveying the fallout of a rough few years by way of sharp songcraft and bold arrangements. Gorilla vs. Bear debuted the record for streaming, hailing it as “subtly brilliant” and “raw and beautiful.” The song “Drivin” – praised as a “gentle rock ‘n’ roller” by Exclaim – was featured in the Netflix series Northern Rescue.

Boyhood’s latest record, My Dread, was written, performed, produced and engineered by Runciman. It marks her most painstaking musical creation to date – one that mirrors her introduction to motherhood. It was mixed by Kenny Gilmore (Julia Holter, Weyes Blood) and mastered by Heather Kirby (Austra, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Le Ren). In addition to her work as Boyhood, Runciman assists in running Port William Sound, an artists’ retreat and studio space north of Kingston.

Bandcamp

Telephone Explosion proudly presents the self-titled debut LP from Toronto’s UH HUH, out physically and digitally on April 14, 2023. The album features eight tracks of dub-damaged art rock which conjure a potent vision of spaced-out 1980s post-punks feeding their angular rhythms and bass-heavy grooves through layer upon layer of grime-spattered spring reverb.

There is a palpable sense of discovery and exploration throughout UH HUH’s 37 heady minutes. Elastic basslines and serpentine guitar phrases throb and glide, cutting through dubwise reverberations like hands moving through an opaque cloud of reefer smoke.

Formerly known as Teenanger, the reconfigured (and reinvigorated) group’s newfound sense of sonic identity is put on display the moment the door kicks open. The percolating spaciousness of opener “Somewhere Beyond” is followed by the cyclical grooves of “Redemption Pause.” Vocalists Christopher Swimmings and Melissa Ball each take respective turns at lead vocal duties, showcasing their contrasting yet complimentary styles.

“Babylon”, a slab of overcast, loping funk features both singers on the same track, alternating between Swimmings’ stoned syncopation and Ball’s saccharine melancholy. This juxtaposition leans against a backdrop of reverb-soaked drums, watery guitar chords and rippling trumpet.

The slinking, fractured grooves of “Rain (In The Afternoon)” and “Citrus Song” call to mind the deranged minimal dub-wave of Naffi or Vivien Goldman. Both songs feature lyrical content heavily inspired by the Florida swamplands, although the aural landscape on these tracks is decidedly more brutalist than Boca Raton.

Two of the songs included here are reworkings of previously released Teenanger numbers. “Blinds Drawn” is reduced to its core elements of bottom-heavy rhythm, spliced guitar shanks and Swimmings’ murmured ruminations. “Good, You”, on the other hand, is completely re-imagined as a blissed-out melt of opiated bossa nova.

After countless hours of experimentation during the album’s recording sessions at Toronto’s Studio Z, the band decided to send their drum machines, snare drums and percussion through an obscure 1960’s Japanese Guyatone guitar amp with a notoriously ecstatic spring reverb sound. The result was immediately inspiring.

The dank, busted and clanking tones produced by the Guyatone evoke a muggy, humid atmosphere that mimics the photo on UH HUH’s cover. The process of re-amping is literally the means through which UH HUH found the sound of this record.

UH HUH is a record that asks more questions than it does provide answers. This is searching music that requires that the listener lean into it, the more time you spend in between the beats, bars, notes contained within, the more vivid the picture becomes.

Bandcamp

Host or Publisher Debaser