“Are you lonesome tonight?” sings Breagh MacKinnon in tonight’s opener, ‘Where have you been’ sampling The King’s lyrics with killing irony. The trouble is, Elvis surely never performed to 14 people, which was the head count when the set got underway. SNMS – Sunday Night in Manchester Syndrome – is fast becoming a real problem for bands that travel great distances to get here – Port Cities had just arrived from Halifax no less, and that’s not the one just up the M62. Too many venues perhaps (more per capita than anywhere else in the country), too much choice and to cap it all it was the first decent weather day of the year, one for heading out to the coast, not hunkering down in Northern Quarter bars avoiding a Canadian-style winter, which has, let’s face it, become the norm just lately.
I’ve seen bands wilt and throw in the towel in this venue when faced which such apparent Dimanche apathie (they aren’t French Canadian but I thought I’d make them feel at home anyway) and it is to their great credit that Port Cities came out fighting and put on a lively, energetic and entertaining show, one which was appreciated by an audience whose enthusiasm grew consistently.
Port Cities are Carleton Stone, Dylan Guthro and Breagh MacKinnon, three individuals who occasionally helped each other out around local shows in Nova Scotia, found a common bond, wrote a little together and expected then to go their own separate ways again, but didn’t. They are classed as exponents of ‘dream pop’ and yes there is some of that but there is more to them. There are distinct shades of Nashville in there for example and on one early song, ‘On the Nights you stay Home’ I couldn’t get Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young out of my mind.
Vocals are shared between all three with Carleton Stone taking the lion’s share, who is also one of the more visually energetic performers you’re likely to see on the circuit. On more than one occasion he suddenly came to life like someone had plugged him into the mains. Their harmonies are exemplary but it has to be said that the most satisfying voice of all belongs to Breagh Mackinnon, who illuminated the room with her rendition of ‘Astronaut’, a song about childhood dreams, and the video for which contains old family footage of the band members as children.
Other notable songs were ‘How To Lose You’, on which Dylan Guthro sings, ‘Back To The Bottom’, a signature track, and an excellent new one, ‘Montreal’ which was being “trialled” on the night and which is in fact so new that it wasn’t included in the set list the band sent me.
Montreal is of course the Holy Grail for Canada’s musicians and if memory serves me correctly the song is set at a house party there. But Port Cities have no intention of moving to Montreal. They spend a lot of their time crisscrossing Canada playing shows anyway, often passing through there. They are inveterate foreign travellers too, having visited Australia, and it wasn’t that long ago they were here previously, playing a sister venue in Salford and learning the hard way the “difference” between Manchester and Salford, twin cities that might be Mars and Venus.
In Canada they are usually a full band with bass and drums and without them here the sound was at times a little thin, they lacked the means to deliver a climactic flourish on the odd occasion when one was needed, and their renowned tightness occasionally wasn’t quite 100%. But none of that should detract from a fine performance.
Their objective right now is to make a breakthrough in this country, “getting on to the BBC” if they can. With the right breaks they certainly have the talent and the songs to make an impact here.
Photo Credit: Mat Dunlap
