Dala @ the
Millpond (Alliston)
(WWWW)
There are two things one can gleam from Toronto folk-pop duo Dala’s performance at the Millpond Café in Alliston, Ontario- that Dala are going places and the Millpond is a great place to catch a show. I had only been there once before- to see David Francey’s ethereal performance last March- but after seeing the Dala performance, the small, quaint venue clearly left a mark, leaving an ambient atmosphere the girls of Dala clearly took advantage of.
The girls of Dala- Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walthier- were laughing and giggling on stage, showing their chemistry and playing along with a crowd that was quieter than they were used to, but one they liked. “It beats playing at the Filly Furkin where no one’s paying attention,” said Sheila, referring to the downtown Toronto pub, to which the crowd laughed. It was, admittedly, a harder crowd for the liberal warhorses in Dala- who sung covers of Stephen Stills and the CSNY protest song “Ohio”- to interact with considering they’re in the heart of conservative Alliston, but considering how many well-wishers they got during the intermission and after the show, I’d say they sealed it.
They opened the show with a Beatles cover, but it was the second song (the name escapes me right now) that really struck a chord. About Sheila’s life in Scarborough, the song displayed the group’s cunning knack for lyrics and songcraft, featuring the night’s best line in, “I want to meet him/But he’s all the way in LA/And that’s too far to swin.” The climax of the first set was the last song, “Where Have All The Boys Gone”, a song about how the girls were ditched by boys they knew who would rather play poker. “It’s Poker Night and we weren’t invited/Take your Spade out of my heart/You said I was your Queen/But you’ve traded me in for a straight flush to win.” The catchy number- the best song of the night- captured the girls’ playful spirit, showing everyone in Alliston that they were indeed a band on the rise.
It was after the intermission where Dala really began to shine. Not that the first set was bad- it was great- but there were a few missed chords and a little hesitation that had probably more to do with adjusting to the crowd than it did with the girls themselves. After the break they were extremely comfortable, displaying more of their youthful energy in songs like the previously unreleased “400 Highways” and “Compass”, both of which were about their cottage in Honey Harbour, just off Georgian Bay. It was in this set where they got off their excellent single, “Twenty Something”, the CSNY and Stills covers and the melancholy “Fortress”, proving the band also has considerable dynamism.
Overall, it was a splendid performance featuring well-crafted, well-sung and well-played songs and several spot-on covers. Make no mistake, Dala is a band on the rise and one we’ll hear from well into the future.
-DG