Can't Believe Album Release + Born at Midnite + furtiveCity at L'Esco (Show Review)
Polaroids/graphic by Malaika
Can’t Believe celebrated their self-titled album release at Bar L’Esco, courtesy of good shows, on Saturday, March 7th in Montreal. The band is a reconfiguration of its members’ other projects (Nap Eyes, Fireball Kid, and Barnacle), but brings the same incredible love of friendship and lyricism through a soft pop lens.
furtiveCity
furtiveCity (who are cashboii and sineila) and Born At Midnite (Arbutus Records) opened the night, both pop powerhouses in their own right. furtiveCity sways more towards hyper glitch pop, while Born at Midnite is more classic indie pop, but still a bit electronic-leaning. While queuing up their next song, Amery hit the sampler, announcing that she “just had to be sure that my meows were in tune.” When asked for an encore, Born at Midnite hinted at an upcoming album, telling the audience that we’d have to wait for the album release before we heard any new tracks.
The true star of the show, though, was Can’t Believe. They had the room packed from wall to wall, sweaty arms in the air, people making out left and right, and friends screaming the lyrics back at them. The band delivered one-liners all night, including “More oil farming?! You gotta give the people what they want!”
A few standout tracks were “Be True”, a slower banger with an amazing crowd call-out: “Put your fucking hands up if you’re true!” Which everyone obeyed immediately. “Funny 2 Me” was another hit, and perhaps the most aggressively soft song on the setlist, with the band clarifying, “It’s not about anyone. I don’t know why we said that stuff… Unless…”
Can’t Believe
It was also revealed that the event was only able to happen because Billy (of Ribbon Skirt) postponed his birthday party. After this announcement, the band promptly broke out in a birthday serenade. Overall, the energy that night evoked misremembered brat pack scores, snowfall, and the light grey that preempts sunrise.
Can’t Believe’s self-titled album Can’t Believe is out now on all streaming platforms.
Malaika is the Co-Founder & Creative Director of Also Cool. She is a Mexican-Canadian visual artist, DJ, and social media strategist currently based in Montreal.
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