I went to see a show this weekend upon the recommendation of a friend and I’m now completely smitten with Whitehorse, the collaboration between singer/songwriters (and adorable married couple) Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland. It was incredible to see the power of what two people on stage can do with a bunch of equipment and effects pedals. They would play a little tambourine or sing a melody, then loop that recording to keep building and layering sounds filling the stage as if there were 6 of them. That description probably sounds gimmicky, but it was easily one of the best performances I’ve ever been lucky enough to see. And that’s coming from someone who was completely new to the music.

There’s a video of Whitehorse playing a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” on YouTube that is well worth listening to (if you can disregard the awful camera phone video quality!):

And if you’re interested in hearing some of their original music, here’s another video on a Canadian morning show where you can see how they record, then loop different sounds via effect pedal.

They have such incredible energy between them on stage that it’s riveting to watch. They remind me of a modern day Johnny Cash and June Carter, with less pills and booze.