Men I Trust, the Canadian dream pop quintet, co-headlined with Turnover at Emos on Wednesday night. Emma Proulx stood center stage on guitar, wearing an oversized taupe trench coat and her blonde hair pulled back in a dutch braid. The rest of the band, all hip men, horseshoed around her. The crowd greets the band with a hardy Texas welcome, and Emma Proulx’s soft sweet canadian accent sounds almost too delicate and beautiful to exist.
The band is punctual and well-rehearsed, achieving a neat and clean sound that’s also sexy. Although the band is modestly dressed, their sound is as sensual as it is mellow. Songs like “Show Me How” could be the soundtrack to losing your virginity on prom night. But remember, this is dream pop, so this is dream prom (that isn’t lame) and the dream mood is scarves over lampshades and hot candle wax. The notes fall and linger while her words crawl up the back of your neck, “show me how you care/ tell me how you were loved before/ show me how you smile/ tell me why your hands are cold.”
Tunes like, “You Deserve This,” keep the mellow mood smooth and groovy, complemented by the soft disco dance undercurrents of the next song, “Tailwhip.” For this tune, Emma jams with Jessy on bass, their instruments facing each other and the sounds audibly bouncing off one another and throughout the venue. This is the intangible, intimate magic of music because at this point, duh, the audience lost it with hoots, hollers, and yelps. Someone even collapsed at the left side bar – woah, mad whammy skills.
As much as I wished they played hits like “Seven” or “Lauren”, I also admire them for not. It leaves me thirsty for more of their music, and it conveys their confidence as a band. They’re not limited to their hits. Their new release from this year, Once Jazz, boasts 24 songs, some new and old rerecorded. All of their music is self-released which gives this dream pop band a punk edge.
– Mel Green