Written by Ace Six | Photography by Philip Litevsky

I love the first Foreign Exchange album, there is no question that the mellow bump of Nicolay’s production matches with my sensibilities. However, I haven’t heard their new record yet so I was going into this show hoping to hear a mix of both and get a chance to experience the new album live.

Since I play records once in a while, I have learned there are some songs you just don’t play at a party. I guess those same rules don’t apply in concerts when all of your material is downtempo, so I won’t judge this show by those standards since it was actually an incredibly well-orchestrated show especially considering the hiccup they had at the Canadian border.

If no one else heard, the drummer who performed with Foreign Exchange last week was a native Torontonian who had never performed with them before and wasn’t familiar with all their material. Their actual drummer was refused entry to the country and so my friend Wan of Shaman Fam was running around trying to find a replacement. Damn, that must have sucked! However, the drummer didn’t appear to lose a beat in the band(bad pun) and they had the feel of a well-oiled machine regardless.

Phonte’s showmanship is outstanding. The man knows how to work a room, and had everyone’s attention during the many breaks in their set. Nicolay obviously knows what he’s doing on the keys, and there was no autotune needed for Zaharah or Darien Brockington, those two can wail for sure.

I thought this would be a purely upbeat review, but to be totally honest I am not in love with the new material. I will take in the album at home to be fair. I might have not even mentioned that if I hadn’t misunderstood that there was an intermission and missed my favourite FE song, Raw Life. Apparently while that was bumping upstairs, I was down in the underpopulated afterparty that I’m sure filled up after the actual show was over. Ah well, I’m sure they will be back because the whole crowd seemed to be loving the show.