SHAWN HEWITT OPENS FOR THE DEARS AT THE MUSIC GALLERY (197 JOHN) OCT 9.
Though in Toronto live music circles his name has meant something for almost a half-decade, this is Hewitt’s first full-length (only a 2005 EP preceeds it), and Broken Social Scene producer David Newfeld’s fingerprints are on the soundboard knobs. It’s a hard set to pin down. The two have created a grab-bag musical landscape: arrangements veer from string-augmented rock ballads — indie and M.O.R. — through ’80s R&B to Krautrock. I hear a bit of Earth Wind and Fire singer Philip Bailey in Hewitt’s vocals and, at times, Thom Yorke. Sounds daft, but he really makes it work, wrapping his voice around ambitious lyrics that namedrop Frank Gehry and, on “Keep Them at Bay,” explore the sacrifices a politician makes for his loved ones. Well-executed, oddly compelling and likely a grower.