Cold Specks brings her ageless take on the blues to Montreal

On the strength of two songs, Al Spx changed her world. "Holland" and "Old Stepstone" were the tracks that filled her debut seven inch from late last year and introduced the planet to Spx's now-familiar moniker Cold Specks, as well as her much talked about sound.

Buoyed and propelled by an ageless and timeless voice (at times sounding like a child, at times sounding like a wizened elder), sparse musical accompaniment, minimal arrangements, and a raw and emotional delivery, the twenty-odd year old Cold Specks delves into the weighted history of largely black musics in the form of country folk, blues, gospel, popular song and soul.

Using these classic genres as a spring board, Spx et. al. resurface into the nefarious worlds of today through words (a stark, realistic, and therefore depressing interpretation of what lies before us) and sonics (chiming guitars, stringed backgrounds, backing band musical antics, a professed love of Tom Waits and Bill Callahan), to contemporize their music.

Hailing from the distinctly non-musical town of Etobicoke, Ontario, Spx decamped for London, England, where she first made waves on a seriously grand scale with her music, driving the already insane music press over there batshit crazy. At home the praise was just as high, particularly focused around her first long player released earlier this year, the glorious and sublime I Predict A Graceful Explosion, itself short-listed for the vaunted Polaris Music prize and without a doubt a dark horse favorite. What a year it has been for Al Spx.

Cold Specks
August 7 | Divan Orange
4234, St.Laurent
with Snowblink
coldspecks.com