Blood and Glass

We hit the Montreal music scene whenever possible – as it’s never afraid to flaunt its more outré, sometimes seditionary inclinations.

One of our new faves is the flamboyant foursome Blood and Glass. Despite their rather dangerous sounding moniker, they’re actually more like some sort of subversive post-punk-pop circus, with outlandish frontwoman Lisa Moore coming on like an uninhibited cross between Nena Hagen and A Clockwork Orange.

Their new album, the intriguingly titled Punk Shadows (which BlackBook premiere’s here), is a fearless, madcap run through their utterly extravagant collective musical psyche. To wit, the oddball synth-pop of”Block of Ice” builds into a dissonant explosion of operatic metal; “Nowheresville” comes off like Cyndi Lauper genuinely losing her sanity; the glorious “Hop the Fence” is impossibly infectious new-wave calypso; and the title track layers an exuberant vocal over an alluring sonic intercontinentalism, that readily recalls Peter Gabriel.

Our favorite, “Chlorine Dreams,” is a spooky, evocative spoken word piece (“In came a hurricane of tears / Out came the vultures.”), which is best approached in an extremely calm state of mind.

Their live shows are beyond imagination and description – so it may be worth hopping a plane to Montreal to catch their record release gig at Cafe Cleopatra on the 21st. Look for us there. - BlackBook

reviewed by Eleni Armenakis

It’s been three years since Blood and Glass burst out with their evocative debut album—three years that have seen the quartet plunge headfirst into their musical experiments to return with Punk Shadows.

Where Museum With No Walls dabbled with experimentation, Punk Shadows is nothing but. New Orleans jazz bands cross paths with 70s ballads as lead Lisa Moore wends her way through an enigmatic performance that defies genre. Shrieks and howls on the wildly addictive “Hop the Fence” burst out, turning the song into an album unto itself, only to be followed by the whispered “Chlorine Dreams.”

There’s a dirty punk on tracks like “Whiskey,” where Moore plays with tradition as she sings, “I drink whiskey when I can/ I drink whiskey like a man” in raspy, whiskey-burnt voice. It takes on a whole new meaning when the band reveals the song was “written for the guy in the Pink Floyd tee shirt sitting alone at the bar.”

Just as easily Moore springs into a falsetto to close out a song, demurs in the solemn “Submarine,” or pitches and bends her voice in yet more new ways as she shifts through the songs—each one a punk track in it’s own right—while the band grabs from an eclectic mix of influences.

It’s not just Moore showing off a stunning chameleonic ability, as band mates Morgan Moore, Robbie Kuster and Melanie Belair imitate orchestras, mimic Moore’s yelps with the help of a trombone, or buzz and spin into a track as unexpectedly poppy as the dark “Nowheresville.”

There’s something new in every single track—and easily a dozen directions the band could go in that would make for essential listening. Each song leaves you hankering for more, even as the seemingly endless ability to change proves to be just as compelling. In fact, it’s hard to say which would be the more satisfying choice—a dilemma that thankfully leaves the way wide open to see what Blood and Glass will deliver next.

Rating: Proud Hoot (Really Good) + *swoop* - Grayowl Point

Any band that describes their sound with baroque pop and electronic will obviously have a fairly unique sound. Coming into the second full-length by Montreal’s explosive Blood And Glass, the feeling of a raw sonic voice couldn’t be any more distinct. With robotic voices, hard rock, dance elements and a sound that’s constantly exploring itself, sound is definitely pushing this record.

Ambient beats and synths lay the base for a robotic voiceover on the hypnotic opener “Block Of Ice.” As they build the energy to its climax roaring guitars and feedback roar in taking it over, feeling like a reverse of Muse’s “The 2nd Law: Unsustainable” that feels natural rather than perverse. Shifting to a more bright sound, the rhythm-driven “Illusion” bursts with life, and pops with strings. The running grooves of its choruses mixed with in the catchy vocals make it a undeniably addictive track that will bore its way into your mind for a while.

There’s a disturbing nature to the sparseness on “Nowheresville” that is amplified by the crashing drums that seem to burst through like a killer in the woods. The gloomy nature of the vocals that go from demented Madonna to a strange Karen O parallel make for a energetic track that rarely lets up. There’s a narrative buried deep in the intro to “Submarine” before the pop side kicks in with aggressive bass push. The bouncing harmonies are like sugar while the string arrangements of the track give an elegant side to its sound, even popping into the baroque-pop for a moment. The harmonies and strings intertwine with the pop more organically however on “Punk Shadows” moving into a more finessed and flowing composition that’s only really hampered by a slightly plodding verse.

The thump to the drums on “Whiskey” is an instantly gripping sound that paves the way for its European-influenced baroque sound, out in full force. While the song pushes on a dark and mysterious dance-pop, the bridge dives right into the off-kilter grandeur with weirdly tuned harpsichord-esque sounds and disturbing harmonies for a standout single for the album. Running with this is the bopping of “Hop The Fence” that goes for big-band intensity on its slowly expanding sound. With the reverb cranked, they bring in all the brass and synth while throwing hook after hook on top of each other for a layered beauty of a track that could march down any parade.

“Chlorine Dreams” goes into a dark and moody spoken-word cloud that matches its title’s foreboding nature. The sound and narrative leave the listener feeling like they’re about to be dropped into a horrific sci-fi nightmare before it ominously cuts off. Going from a dynamic and driving mix of a percussion at the start of “Swimming Pool” the instruments and harmonies instantly switch on the fire that expands through the rest of the song, blaring and growing frantically. The surprisingly haunting and ambient ending leaves a terrifying final glimpse into the abyss that the band seems to have pulled these tracks from as well.

Overall this is an ambitiously abrasive record that never feels like it falls into over-indulgence. Letting their unique ideas drive an explorative pop rather than stand on its own, they find a great middle-ground that pushes the pop into fascinating territory and when they go fully into their more baroque sounds it’s well deserved.

review by Owen Maxwell - Northern Transmissions

There's just something about Montreal duo Blood and Glass' music—something eclectic and entrancing, something that flawlessly brings together a wide variety of sounds into one song. That sound is omnipresent, now more than ever, in the group's brand new album Punk Shadows that drops today. After the group's appearance on The Pressure Drop last night at CJLO and prior to their release show tonight at the Café Cléopatra, I took the time to properly listen to the new album, and find out just why you should care about this wonderful record.

The thing that stands out the most from Punk Shadows is its amazing imagery. It goes beyond the lyrics—the complexity of the composing throughout each track, the unique touch given to each song, and how the tracks interact with each other is what makes it such an interesting record to just sit down and listen to. From the get-go, the opener "Block of Ice" takes us on a smooth journey, guitars and subtle drums growing insistent as the song progresses. It delves into intensity, slows down, picks up the beat again. It's a great introduction to the rest of the album, which experiments with various beats, distorted instrumentalization—that's done properly, mind you—and melodies that are interesting enough without getting redundant.

Highlights include "Nowheresville," another fairly representative track of both the group's versatily as well as the way they still manage to establish a sound that's typically theirs. "Hop the Fence" will definitely catch your attention, with the brass instruments leading the track and its more upbeat composition. Still, the song doesn't lose its slightly wondrous vibe—that's a good thing, and it's what makes every song on Punk Shadows part of a bigger, better, wonderful product.

It's not only the album that possesses that storytelling feeling—the performance matters too, and it differs from your typical concert. Blood and Glass wants you to do more than just hear their music, if you're lucky enough to see them live. "We're big into putting a show on," said Lisa Moore yesterday during The Pressure Drop's interview with the band. She mentioned how every element was part of a "mise-en-scène," from the music to the venue it's performed at. "Everything has to be part of the experience, the show experience," she added.

Curious about the experience, or want to hear a snippet of Punk Shadows? Don't miss Blood and Glass' release show tonight at 8 p.m., at the Café Cléopatra. - CJLO

Blood and Glass are set to release the follow-up to their 2014 debut Museum with No Walls next week, but Exclaim! is letting you hear the entire album a whole week early.

The project brings together Little Scream player Lisa Moore and the Barr Brothers' Morgan Moore for an eccentric mix of electro-tinged pop jams that range from the breathy, slow groove of opener "Block of Ice," through cinematic numbers like "Submarine" and "Chlorine Dreams," and onto the final burst of drama on closer "Swimming Pool."

The Moores' creative partnership is one built on a willingness to leap into the unknown — and trust that it will all work out.

"In the studio, we stopped looking for perfection," Lisa tells Exclaim! "Instead, we looked to capture raw energy. You know that game people do to instill trust in each other where one person falls and a group of friends has to catch him? That's what recording this album was. We all trusted each other and helped each other fall."

Punk Shadows is officially out March 24 via Simone Records, but you can give it an early listen below via SoundCloud right now. - EXCLAIM!

Following Tuesday night’s launch show at Café Cleopatra, local art rock band Blood and Glass are officially releasing their new album Punk Shadows on Simone Records today, Friday March 24.

cover_iTunesThe band’s core duo, Lisa and Morgan Moore, wrote much of this album while they were on the road with different bands (Lisa with Little Scream and Morgan with the Barr Brothers and les Triplettes de Belleville). Back in Montreal, they recorded this sophomore album — a follow-up to 2014’s Museum With No Walls — with Plants and Animals’ Warren Spicer between Mixart and la Traque studios Montreal. Among its long list of guest musicians from the local scene are Brad and Andrew Barr, Marie-Pierre Arthur and Érika and Simon Angell (of Thus Owls). - Cult MTL

Regarding the title track from Blood and Glass’ new album Punk Shadows, singer and lyricist Lisa Moore observed that, “Punk is not a hair style. It is not a fashion statement. Punk is the expression of inner freedom.” It’s a bold statement that feels especially relevant now, more than 40 years after punk’s initial heyday. While Punk Shadows may not evoke the well-worn clichés of mohawks and safety pins, it does offer listeners a bracing dose of originality in the form of nine wildly eclectic tunes.

The album opens with the moody, Kate Bush-flavored “Block of Ice,” a song based on a thought-provoking metaphor: the cold heart of a lover. “I wanted to keep it close for days / but it melted all away.” This frigidity is contrasted with “every heart beat” that “makes too much heat.” Moore’s breathy falsetto blends with heavy bass guitar and drums, crystalline keyboards and processed vocals to create a song of austere beauty.

From this first track, one might assume that Blood and Glass makes mostly melancholy art-pop, but “Illusions” quickly proves that theory wrong. It’s as breezy as “Block of Ice” is bleak. It also shows Moore’s capricious vocal range, as she adopts a style more akin to that of Bjork or Cyndi Lauper. Masterful cello from Annie Gadbois adds a pensive touch to a song that takes a devil-may-care approach to the apocalypse: “The machines are all blown to confetti / I’m ready.” There’s a humorous vocal outtake at the end which dissolves into spontaneous laughter, revealing that Blood and Glass might be serious artists, but they don’t take themselves too seriously.

Title aside, “Nowheresville” betrays the influence of late-period Japan, with what sounds like fretless bass and King Crimson-style synths. Booming drums are offset by plucked violins and some impressive multi-tracked vocals in which Moore pulls out all the stops. Lyrically, the song addresses a road trip through failed relationships of the past, when touching bruises seems like the only way to heal: “And I’m going to all the places that broke me / Now.”

There is more dazzling imagery in “Submarine,” which mixes metaphors (tears, oceans, alcohol and chlorinated water) to marvelous success. Piano, cello and echoey synths elicit the sensation of swimming, while Moore’s emotive singing creates a mood of pure heartbreak. A wave of intense keyboards helps the listener “sink” to the bottom, as the song reveals its deepest secrets. “You’re high up in your ship now / you sail across the ocean / I’ll be at the bottom / suffocating in emotions.” It’s a stunning achievement, compressing an entire album’s worth of ideas and feelings into one song.

“Punk Shadows” is a blast of fresh air, sounding uncannily like something that would have been a massive college radio hit in the summer of 1985 (think of a more avant-garde Bananarama), only to cross over onto mainstream radio. It’s ridiculously catchy, especially for a song that serves as an elegy to the end of punk, which many claim ended with the birth of hardcore in the mid-1980s. “I cried, I cried / When he gave up his own advice.” Still, the song ends on a note of hopefulness: “Always forever punk shadows / There in the dark.”

Chest-thumping drums and eerie keyboards open the theatrical “Whiskey,” one of the most seductive songs about alcoholism I’ve ever heard. It’s certainly got one of the hookiest choruses to earworm its way into my head so far this year: “Like a whisper hot inside your throat / I can feel it flow / Like a secret everybody knows / Let the river flow.” Moore’s vocal prowess is truly arresting, switching from Lene Lovich-style yelping to falsetto with ease. The song even takes a break in the middle for a German drinking song, complete with the raucous bar noises of drunken patrons. The continued refrain of “de-na-na-na-nial” is pure brilliance.

“Hop the Fence” takes the premise of “Submarine” (being physically trapped by a relationship) and transposes it to someone literally caged and attempting to escape. Unexpectedly, it does so by utilizing a brass section and marching band percussion, reminiscent of songs like The Cure’s “The Love Cats” and Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Peep Show.” Moore yelps “I’m hanging on an electrical wire / the fence that you built me,” sounding like a lover not only spurned but also gaslighted.

The most experimental track on an album that consistently tries to push the pop music envelope as far as it will go is the spoken word “Chlorine Dreams.” It continues the concept of “Punk Shadows” through the story of a fictional former punk named “Billy Doll.” The lyrics are bona fide poetry, utilizing words with multiple meanings and the imagery of fascism to get the point across (“And out came the suits / And out came the uniforms”), one in which “the truth behind you and all of it” is that “every dream / was tainted with chlorine.”

“Chlorine Dreams” transforms into the album’s final track, “Swimming Pool,” the last of Punk Shadows’ many uses of water metaphors. Here, the pool is a way to escape and avoid reality, even when the weather changes and the protagonist ages: “As the deep end / becomes my new best friend.” There’s a fake-out ending, and then the song resumes with Moore laconically singing, “Breast stroke, back stroke, kicking it back, heart stroke.” It’s a gloomy ending that feels like a question mark.

Punk Shadows is only Blood and Glass’s second album, but it affirms the self-assured presence of a band that is bursting with clever ideas and talent, not to mention songs that are undeniably addictive. If punk, as Moore suggests, is the expression of “inner freedom,” then Blood and Glass is definitely punk. - Vague Visages - Fargo, ND

We are digging this one big time. Lead vocals are quirky but endearing, and stand somewhat in contrast to the grandiose, baroque pop chorus. The song soars in celebration thanks to a little touch of Broadway musical drama. - Ride The Tempo

Blood and Glass arrive avec un second opus, Punk Shadows. Naviguant autant dans les eaux électroniques que dans d’autres l’amenant plus près de l’indie rock, le groupe montréalais livre ici neuf titres qui montrent une évolution claire dans sa sonorité. Lisa Moore mentionne ceci à propos de l’enregistrement :

"En studio, on a cessé de chercher la perfection. On a plutôt tenté de capturer l’énergie crue. Vous savez, ce jeu où une personne doit se laisser tomber vers l’arrière et qu’un groupe d’amis autour d’elle doit la rattraper? Cet album s’est enregistré comme ça. On s’est tous fait confiance et on s’est laissé tomber."

Punk Shadows comprend des collaborations avec François Lafontaine, Robbie Kuster, Mélanie Bélair, Brad et Andrew Barr, Marie-Pierre Arthur, Érika et Simon Angell. Il sera disponible partout dès le 24 mars, et le lancement se tiendra le 21 mars au Café Cléopâtre. - Voir

by Ben Barna
The lavish, haunted video you are about to watch is from enigmatic new Montreal outfit Blood and Glass, who have sprouted like a dead rose onto that city’s endlessly fertile music scene. The song is called “Inferno,” and it’s a carefully orchestrated, sonically textured descent into the abyss—albeit a very warm one. “This song is about a girl who faces her demons,” says singer Lisa Iwanycki. “They wrestle her to the ground and burn through the floor, falling into the earth’s core. She has no choice but to dance with them.” As for the video, by French director Thomas Lesourd, it’s a baroque parable of fallen creatures that evokes some Lynch, some Kubrick, and early silent films. It’s melancholic, it’s mysterious, it’s beautiful. - BULLET Magazine, NYC.

By Alex Hudson
Arty Montreal project Blood and Glass's website features a few visual clips and live performances, but now the Lisa Iwanycki-Moore-spearheaded act has unveiled its first official music video. It's for the solemnly dramatic "Inferno."

The song is quietly mournful with an undercurrent of choral drama, and the video captures the cinematic tone with cryptic footage of people in masks. A press release explains, "Lisa teamed up with director Thomas Lesourd from France and they created a story using Dante's Inferno and the Greek myth of Eros & Psyche about jealousy." It also alludes to Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.

Blood and Glass will play a show in Montreal on May 23 and 24 at Nomad. The performance is called "In Memory of a Tree." It's described as "a fake, fluorescent funeral for a tree."

Expect the project to release an album in September, but for now, watch the video for "Inferno" below. - EXCLAIM!

Montreal-bred duo Blood and Glass (Paints a pretty picture, no?) – comprised of Lisa Iwanycki-Moore and Morgan Moore – might be revving up for the release of their sophomore album Punk Shadows in March, but we’ve got the exclusive debut of their song “Hop The Fence”. Right now.

A big band feel in the instrumentals, a gorgeous blend of several genres as soulful vocals give way to a rock/pop vibe as well. Energetic, boastful in their creative genius, the duo knows how to make our heads bob effortlessly. We sure can’t pinpoint their sound, but it’s intriguing as all hell and we’re drawn in by the mystery. - Impose Magazine

“Released just in time for Halloween, the song – produced by Morgan Moore – is sure to ignite the dancefloor of your costume party with its Britpop vibe. As the flamboyant Lisa Moore succinctly puts it “Put your mask on, order your whiskey shots and dance like the crazy drunken monster you are”. The video, directed by visual artist Brigitte Henry, draws us into a world of lost disco, as kitsch and strange as a David Lynch film, in which Morgan and Lisa play ghostlike characters. Just like the song, the clip is both sombre and playful.”

Blood and Glass are Lisa Iwanycki-Moore, Morgan Moore, Robbie Kuster, and Melanie Belair. Even though Blood and Glass is fronted by Moore, this is NOT a girly band. This is a tough, punk band from Montreal who are influenced by Patti Smith, Souixie and the Banshees, and Bat For Lashes. They claim as interests Stanley Kubrick, Frida Kahlo, Philip Glass, Tim Burton, Marina Abramovic, Hitchcock, and David Lynch. I love the fact that the song, “Whiskey”, is for the guy at the bar wearing the Pink Floyd t-shirt who comes alone, leaves alone, and falls asleep with his hands in his pants; in other words, all of us. I love this band. I love their sound, their look, their philosophy. This band plays to me. - Audio Fuzz