SXSW Day 2 | Under The Radar

Elliott Brood

SXSW Day 2, March 19th, 2009

Mar 19, 2009 By Lorraine Carpenter Web Exclusive

Elliott Brood is a Toronto trio who dress like old-timey rural undertakers and play a stripped down, highly rhythmic brand of roots music with endearing energy, a particularly impressive feat at 3 p.m. in a darkened exhibition hall in the Austin Convention Center. They even got the crowd clapping and stomping along to their guitars, drums, banjos and “cooperating ukuleles” (“dueling banjos are out,” quipped singer Mark Sasso) as they belted out pretty three-part harmonies. It was a fairly short set, under a half hour, yet the band managed to squeeze in a good number of songs from their 2008 LP Mountain Meadows. Something about the combination of their suits, their smiles, their pop appeal and guitarist Casey Laforet’s shakin’ mop-top was reminiscent of The Beatles, circa 1963, though they don’t require quite as much electricity. Lyrically, the songs are high on Canadian content, particularly the tunes about Alberta (which actually praises the physical attributes of several provinces) and Dundas, Ontario. Yet Elliott Brood is an easy fit in Texas, winning the approval of the small pack of cowboy-hat-wearing dudes gathered in the back of the room. And, as requested, the Canadians in the house (this reporter included) represented with handclaps and hollers.

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