The Decemberists Bring Their Somber Sounds to Ottawa to close out CityFolk

This year’s CityFolk Festival wrapped up on a high note, with a well attended evening of agreeable weather and positive mellow vibes. Internationally respected and appreciated marquee talent The Decemberists were the main stage headliners, supported by a plethora of talents that notably included Terra Lightfoot and Whitehorse among others.

Hamilton’s husband-wife folk roots duo Whitehorse had drawn a decent crowd of fans at the Lansdowne lawn for the festival’s closing evening. The duo delivered a sexy performance of twangy guitars and tunes of perfect harmonies, as the scorching sun was slowly setting to finally cool off the warm autumn air.

Terra Lightfoot’s smooth voice and bluesy rock ballads brought on a whole new energy to the evening’s lineup. She has an impressive resume of touring buddies from Gordon Lightfoot (not related), Bruce Cockburn and Blue Rodeo.

Watching the Decemberists as this year’s star-studded festival prepared for its send off, did feel to be, at points somewhat anticlimactic. Their melancholic Death Cab-rescue execution that recalled stylistic similarities to understated acts of bygone era such as Rodney Danger and even at points Styxx or Rush, sometimes left the capacity crowd in awe other layered, contextualized storytelling and immaculate musicianship.

Still, at certain points something still fell flat. It was hard to appreciate them as a stand alone send-off after the overwhelming presence of previous evening-time headliners from throughout the week like David Byrne and Hozier.

That said, it was only in moments where the music felt obscure and the energy muted that the lyrical prose really got to shine in honest showcase. Lyrics like “Forget you once had sweethearts, they’ve forgotten you, think you not on parents, they’ve forgotten too. Go to sleep now, little ugly, go to sleep, you little fool, forty winking in the belfry, you’ll not feel the drowning” might be painful visuals to muster, but it’s hard to argue their artistic fortitude.

Overall, how could anyone debate that a band like this is probably exactly what a folk festival is all about.

Other notable moments of the final evening included Janis Ian singing a stirring rendition of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow,” and Chris Smither performing solitary blues-infused acoustic rumblings to a small but awe-inspired audience on the Ravenclaw Stage.

Until next year CityFolk!

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