Toronto was Celebrating!
Like the third sequel to a Peter Jackson Movie, Toronto experienced the Return of the Kents! This is a band that formed and released their first EP 10 years ago. They toured on and off with a couple of lineup changes over the years.
By 2022, they took a break and disappeared. Nobody knew if they were ever coming back. Even I was worried that this band broke up for good. I first saw them at the Beaches Jazz Festival back in 2018. They grabbed my attention right away. They seemed to have a knack of writing and composing really good songs. Their gift was extending music into some very dramatic territories and sends you off to another realm.
That day I bought their EP- Within Waves. It still remains one of my favourite EP’s from a Toronto Indie band.
The Monarch Show
I was not the only one missing this band. The Monarch was packed with dedicated fans awaiting this reunion. The first two acts really kept this crowd hungry for more. So, when the Kents finally descended onto the stage, the mood in the room shifted and all that attention was focus on that small stage.
They opened the show with “The Stake” which was a song they created 10 years ago. They chose to start from the beginning and work their way through their career.
By the time they hit the next song, they sounded stronger than before. The song structures began showing up and their sonic landscape began to emerge. It was like getting your dessert at the beginning of the meal. The next course was more dessert. You could feel the appreciation of the room. These people have waited four or more years to hear these songs again.
The third song in, was their most commercial pop song of music called, “Caroline”. This was a perfect placement in the order of their set list. It is a song that puts you into a light happy mood. This was just the warm up for their deeper tracks that helped you disappear for awhile.
The next few songs really delivered that promise as they dug down into your emotional and cerebral metaphysical state. Those songs were, “Distant” and “Low Light”.
They are large and have a modern psychedelic quality that will have you tripping into infinity.
I also learned that they had a side project called the Heaps. They decided to pull two songs from their album. They hit the mark well with, “Get it back” and “Salt”.
When it came down to the last song, I was not prepared to see such a great reaction from the crowd. The last song is called, “Something about her”.
It is one of the catchiest songs that I have heard in quite a while. Man, it was fun watching all the women who were at the front of the stage dancing around and reenacting their way to be that- Something about her.
It really felt like a celebration of women and it was fun for everybody.
I am not sure where they will be going from here. I only hope they continue to be one of the best Indie bands that have a home in Toronto.
The Return of the Kents–
Here is their Instagram page if you want to learn more about this band.
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