This weekend was the first SoMa Fest from Music BC. Along with some industry panels & events, the festival spotlighting dozens of local bands across several venues throughout Vancouver’s South Main St (get it?). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to hit up any of the Friday night shows, but there was a certain one on Saturday at the ANZA Club I couldn’t to miss.

I didn’t catch the first act of the night, Élise LeBlanc, getting to the club as Talel McBriar took the stage with her band. With a folky vibe, she weaved through a lovely set as her voice lilted through the room on songs like “Stages” and “Stay the Same”, the recently-released first single off her upcoming album.

Next up was someone I’ve been meaning to catch for a while, Desirée Dawson. She started off the set with “I Am Blessed”, supported only by acoustic guitar, stand-up bass, and backup vox. The spotlight of her soulful folk set was definitely her powerful voice, with songs like the optimistic “Clover” and “Cowgirl”, featuring just her and an acoustic guitar.

Dawson also got the crowd to join in with some soft singing along to “Hold Up Hope” and her chilled out cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”. After the jaunty “Chop Some Wood”, she wrapped up the set with “Beholder” to rapturous applause from the room. I’m definitely going to have to make a point to see her do a full set soon.

Duke & Goldie followed, the country duo of Eric “The Duke” Duquette and Jena “Goldie” Gogo backed by a full band, including pedal steel, to start the set with a raucous “West End Queen (Abattoir)”. Goldie’s voice burst forth on songs off their latest EP Romance and Ramblin' including the melancholic “Romanticized Cowboy”, and dipped back further for “Courage”, which they also had the crowd join in on. They capped off their set with “Outsider”, a song Duke dedicated to Willie, Waylon, Kris, and all his other heroes who felt like outsiders to the country scene.

Wrapping up the night was the new project from Haley Blais and Sam Lynch, True Mountain Laurel. The collab came from their longtime friendship and performing with each other on stage (in fact, I saw Haley join Sam for a song late last year teasing the partnership) and I was distraught to have to miss their debut show last month.

The two Vancouver musicians took a seat on a pair of stools on stage, acoustic guitars in hand, which lead to the only unfortunate part of the set; since they were going on later in the evening, the music from the ANZA’s downstairs lounge began to bleed through, especially the thumping bass. But the duo powered on, joking that they would have to get some dance remixes soon, and even laughing at the perfect timing of the bass dropping as soon as they finished one of their songs.

They started off with a cover of the standard “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie” before playing their upcoming album in full, beginning with the title track “Angel So Bad” that included some funny, clever lyrics. Their voices intertwined beautifully on songs ranging in personal experience, like an ode to Haley’s cat with “Bird of Prey” and honouring their shared middle name in “I Love You Nicole”.

Throughout the set they talked about the songs, their partnership, and joked with each other, their friendship shining through and keeping up the energy for the last band of the evening, even trying to show up the people downstairs with Blais getting everyone to stamp their feet along with “Holy Hell”.

Being a fan of both musicians individually I was already looking forward to the collaboration, but more-so now. If the album captures even a fraction of the charm from their show it’s going to be a special one.

Even though I only caught a small slice of the inaugural SoMa Fest, it was a fun show with quick, half-hour sets from everyone (and, one of the biggest compliments I can give it: the entire night ran on time!)
I’m already hoping they’re back next year, and will definitely try to catch even more if they are.