When I first heard Airick Woodhead as Doldrums, he was fastened knees-down to a plywood stage, labouring over a bank of pedals and other processing gadgets. Behind him, two towers of mismatched heads and amps — belonging to headliners Black Dice — loomed high overhead, and swayed precariously to the back and forth of the room’s dance. Every small quake threatened to topple the towers and crush poor Woodhead. Some guy in snake-print pants just ahead of me moved so feverishly that I thought his work alone might do Doldrums in. But Woodhead hadn’t noticed, because, in a relative way, the whole room was moving pretty viciously. I took away two ideas from my first encounter with the Toronto-to-Montreal transplant: a) despite the club electro semblance, his roots lie very much in the DIY noise show scene, but b) let’s not kid anyone, he really knows how to make people dance.
Doldrums debut full-length Lesser Evil underscores both — he approaches electronic music with the playfulness and experimentation of a noise artist. That Montreal/ Arbutus sound is undeniable; it isn’t a stretch to shelf Doldrums beside labelmates Grimes or Blue Hawaii or part-Montrealers Purity Ring. But for all of the painstakingly layered synth work and those gossamer vocals, Doldrums displays a real reverence for the club beat. The backbone. I’m not talking about high-gloss Timbaland-era Britney, more a commitment to tap into that primal rhythm no matter what gear he’s driving in. “Anomaly” is a lounge-trim version of MBV’s “I Only Said.” But then “She is the Wave” is a manic assault — a laser show caught in a hall of mirrors. That seismic kickdrum bleeds through from two rooms over. And after, “Sunrise” with its warm, splashy organs sounds downright tropical. Woodhead covers a lot of ground, but he does it with a studied grace — each song a room unto itself, and every room a decent little party.
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