Whether it’s Mathias Kom on his own or backed by 13 stellar musicians animating his quirky, sardonic, parlour pop, Peterborough’s The Burning Hell put on an incredible live show. A harbinger of wonderful performances to come, Happy Birthday is generally inward and comically morbid; the title track actually includes the lyrics in its coda, “to the end of the world.” It’s more “classy circus” than “cheap funeral” though, with Kom drawing from The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt and Smog’s Bill Callahan for his own dry baritone, deceptively jaunty arrangements and skewed perspectives on life and love. There’s a demented grin accompanying “Everything You Believe Is a Lie” and a hopeless romanticism dripping through “In the Palms of Your Hands.” The Burning Hell’s people’s folk music is familiar but there’s something lively and unique coursing through Kom’s songs.

Email us at: LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM or send your questions to EYEWEEKLY.COM
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1