Joseph Shabason received a bag of Smartfood popcorn for his birthday halfway through DIANA's supercharged set and then the band debuted a dreamy new mid-tempo song called "Appetite" in St. John's. Singer/guitarist Carmen Elle was fully immersed in the performance, throwing herself around the stage at times, or else coolly detached if the song called for it. A cover of Brian Eno's "Here Come the Warm Jets" unfolded slowly and then built up the way Do Make Say Think epics do, colourful notes blending into chords that wind up in weird progressions.
The synthetic tones and the textures that make up the band's sound seem wilder live, and their chilliness is counteracted by the fun and joy that Elle exhibits as a performer. She's a great singer and an excellent musician but she's also very wry and there's an endearing wit to her gestures. By the end of DIANA's set, the crowd were hungry for more, but the band were out of songs, so Shabason threw handfuls of Smartfood into the throng and some people ate it up.
The synthetic tones and the textures that make up the band's sound seem wilder live, and their chilliness is counteracted by the fun and joy that Elle exhibits as a performer. She's a great singer and an excellent musician but she's also very wry and there's an endearing wit to her gestures. By the end of DIANA's set, the crowd were hungry for more, but the band were out of songs, so Shabason threw handfuls of Smartfood into the throng and some people ate it up.