Fast Romantics at Mercury Lounge

Matthew Angus

Matthew Angus was born in Kitchener, Canada and formed the Mood, a locally popular pop band, in Calgary, Canada. The Mood split in 2008, and three original members recruited a new drummer and formed Fast Romantics. In 2009, Spin Magazine and John Varvatos selected Fast Romantics as one of three global finalists in the magazine's "Free the Noise" competition. Fast Romantics won Pop Group of the Year at the Sirius XM Indies in 2014 for "Funeral Song." Fast Romantics also won the 2016 SOCAN Songwriting Prize for the song "Julia," which was voted the best song by emerging artists over the past year. Fast Romantics presently consists of Angus, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Kirty, keyboardist Lisa Lorenz, guitarist Kevin Black, original bassist Jeffrey Lewis, and drummer Nick McKinlay. Fast Romantics' third album, American Love, was released on April 28, 2017. The band currently is based in Toronto, Canada.

At Mercury Lounge tonight, Fast Romantics' music was built from a singer-songwriter base and then was injected with a Frank Turner-like explosiveness that generated stadium rock intensity. On each song, the build-up was expeditious and meteoric, with unmistakable choruses that often appeared to be significantly longer than the verses, these repetitious hook lines were sometimes just a few words seemingly on a loop. While the set did not yet have the gravity of Bruce Springsteen or the earthiness of Tom Petty, the newer songs in particular seemed to be moving in these directions, albeit within pop structures. As such, Fast Romantics may be on its way to courting and scoring an audience beyond its Canadian following.

Visit Fast Romantics at www.fastromantics.com.