It’s been eight years since jo passed Their Prime, but after a tease with a single last year, Jo Hirabayashi (平林) is back with a brand new album as jo passed Away. And along with the new album comes a celebration — and tour kick-off — at The Pearl in Vancouver with some local pals.

First up on the night was Buddie, who were playing in front of a projection screen with a cute animation loop of a fish swimming though the ocean. They had a fuzzy, power-pop sound with catchy songs like “Golden” and the crunchy “Antarctica, 2005” from their latest album Glass, released a few months ago. The band blasted through some older songs, including the gritty “Ugly in the End”, before capping off the set with “In A Glass Shell”.
I hadn’t seen the Vancouver band before last night, and I’ll definitely have to keep an ear out for then again.

Babe Corner took the stage next, starting off (ironically) with the deep cut, “Fox Cabaret”. From there, they went into a set of their “babe-core” sound, including songs from their latest album Crybaby; “Summer Slaughter” with its infectious chorus, the breezy “Bianca”, and “Caught On The Double” which say Haley Blais taking over lead vocals for a bit.
They also hit a pair of singles released last year, with the dreamy combo of “I'm Like U” and “Feels Like”, and ultimately wrapped up with “Cigarette”, a song that never fails to get stuck in my head after hearing it live.
Early in the set, a (probably) drunk dude felt the need to let everyone know it was his 33rd birthday, yelling between a couple songs, but Lindsay Sjoberg handled it well, joking we should all head down the street to The Roxy after show.

But before that, it was time for jo passed to close out the night, kicking off with the first track off Away, the appropriately titled “BRB”. Jo continued through the new album with the jagged “Ico” and the chaotic buzz of “339”, an early favourite off the album.
After ‘side A’ of the album finished with “Dizzy Izzy”, Jo introduced the band and went into some older tracks, including “MDM”. Through the set, Jo didn’t say much, mostly thanking everyone for being there and quickly introducing songs; the one time he did try to talk more, about his trepidation for embarking on a tour through America right now, someone kept dismissively yelling “relax!” until he moved on (strange crowd last night, and that’s before even mentioning the people dancing/swaying/flailing in front of the stage all set!)
And finally, the all-too-short set wrapped up with the title track “Away” and chilled out “J Walking”, foregoing the encore routine, thankfully.

The last time I saw jo passed, it was during JunoFest last year and the sound at the venue was somewhat muddy, so it was good to see them again with a much better mix! Add on Babe Corner who is always a blast & a fun set from Buddie, and it was a great album release show.