Last, but not least, we have Niagara Falls, ON locals, The Waxbills in the NXNE Spotlight, who will also be playing a set at Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern tomorrow (June 14) as a part of the NXNE Day Party Showcase presented by I Blame Yoko, which is being co-sponsored by buffabLOG. The indie-pop trio's origins can be traced back to 2006, when lead singer/songwriter Nathan Warriner released a solo EP which required the help of a backing band for playing live gigs. That’s were John Albers and Brandon Ainsley came in. Knowing they had a good thing going, the three musicians began writing and recording together and released their first LP as The Waxbills, The Way It Goes, in 2008 after recording in Hamilton, ON. About a year later another full-length was released independently entitled, Hard To Lose. After playing an abundance of shows all over The Great White North, and gaining an increased following, the group unveiled their latest and third LP, When Love Comes, in April. 

My first impressions of the 10-track record are that the songs are incredibly catchy and pleasantly familiar. Sonically, the songwriting style of track by track is quite versatile, making it difficult to find any distinctively labeled box to put them in. Tracks like “First Aid Kit” and “Shattered” give off rays of upbeat mid-60s guitar-pop, paired with relaxed background vocal lulls. You'll also find a few straitforward indie rock tracks sprinkled in such as, “When Love Comes” and “Break Free”, that deliver the same buoyant pop vibe filtered through a reverb-buckled lens. When Love Comes becomes its strongest when it turns to its folk-rock charm on “Blood On The Road”, where burly hollow-bodies are made to let out deep sighs, lamenting to their harmonica counter-part, as Warriner huffs a dark tale of what could only happen on any one of those long, deserted roads in the far-reaching wilderness of Northern Ontario. 

The Waxbills' prove to be a resourceful flock as they sound their ambivalent chirp across the stylistic landscape of their latest record, and I am excited to see how this will fair on stage, especially one as celebrated as The 'Shoe. There's no doubt it will be an excellent day of great local music. So get yourself up to Toronto tomorrow by 12:30pm. Admission is free.