Joshua Radin turns in a dreamy performance at the Danforth Music Hall

Joshua Radin probably felt like a slab of meat last night. The ladies in the audience at the Ohioan-turned-Californian’s gig at the Danforth Music Hall weren’t holding back, with their yells about how handsome and good-looking and sexy and dreamy he is echoing throughout the theatre. So, in the name of journalistic integrity and unprejudiced reporting, I shut my eyes and let the music speak for itself.

The result was a soft-spoken, fabled and mostly acoustic set, punctuated by a couple of bangers and backed by the full-blown band (which includes a xylophonist). Radin said that each of his songs are deeply rooted in their own individual stories. Combined with the stage setup, it did feel a bit like story time, complete with night stands, six lamps (I counted), a string of twinkling lights and the spotlight fixed upon our raconteur.

His (assumedly) rock-hard, calloused fingertips were on fire, plucking away at the guitar strings frenetically and flawlessly. While his axe skills are comparable to Nick Drake and Elliott Smith, we hesitate to liken him to those late greats lyrically. There is a breezy and blasé quality to his verses that better resembles Matt Costa, Neil Halstead or anyone from the Brushfire gang, really.

Thankfully, his latest album, Underwater, for which he is touring, sees Radin shifting away from his usual sappy self. Instead of cut-and-dried songs oozing with morose sentimentality, these 12 tracks (16, if you include the bonus ones) focus on isolation and self-reflection, and might serve well as the soundtrack for a drifter’s journey. For instance, “Let It Go” was literally written on the road — a trip which Radin said he took to, well, just let go. The first track, “Tomorrow Is Gonna Be Better” (written to make his Toronto friend feel better), is a turn towards dark territory for Radin, and it eases his fans into the record. With record labels sending him “passive aggressive emails” about how he should sound, Radin said that these new songs were more about getting back to his true self. And that can certainly be heard, especially on “She’s So Right,” a country-tinged ditty punctuated by kick drums and an audience clap-along — and which spotlights Radin’s foray (albeit timid) into bluegrass. Tracks from his previous albums, such as “Brand New Day,”  broke up the romantic, sad lull with upbeat and jaunty rhythms. 

And that was the best part. When most of us check out such pedigreed musicians, we like to hear the songs we know, rather than only new ones. So Radin struck a deal: for every new track he played, he would cut to old an old fan favourite.

At times, the set was rather mawkish — we had hoped that he would choose more from his grandiosely orchestrated numbers — and he talked a lot, maybe too much. He did say that each song comes with a story, but isn’t it a mark of a skilled artist to let the songs speak for themselves? In any case, the ravenous women in the crowd clung to every syllable. 

Radin was a good sport about the Bieber-esque hysteria. He even quipped that his Sandy-induced extended stay in Toronto was so pleasant because of how polite us Canadians are, and joked, “Is she hitting on me, or is she just Canadian?”

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