In February, during the Ottawa Ice Dragonboat Festival concert series at The Rainbow, I got to check out a band I had never heard of before—Brother Elsey, out of Detroit. I was immediately impressed by their performance, particularly the depth and breadth of their songwriting. So when I heard they were coming to Neat Coffee Shop in Burnstown, I jumped at the chance to see them again, this time armed with a better appreciation of their music catalogue, which has been in steady rotation for me for the last few months.
They are largely a band of brothers, and contrary to what you might think, their band name is not eponymous, but rather a tribute to their great-grandfather, Elsey. Consisting of twin brothers Brady Stablein (vocals/guitar) and Beau Stablein (bass/vocals), as well as Jack Stablein (guitar/vocals) and honorary brother, Dalton Thomas (drums/vocals), the band has been honing their craft for several years, earning their troubadour badge on the roads of the U.S. and Canada.
The show at Neat last night was sold out, so shortly after 8pm, the room was full from front to back as Brother Elsey made their way to the stage. Neat Coffee Shop is a unique venue, a short drive outside of the west end of Ottawa, and well worth the trip for the calibre of shows they book, because every show is up close and personal, giving songs room to breathe and truly be appreciated.
This was particularly apparent last night on songs like “Babylon,” and my favourite, “Passing Through,” which was enough to give anyone in the room goosebumps, the latter song and the band set to be featured in the upcoming feature film, Dandelion.
The night was split into two sets and featured their newest single “Red Tape,” plus several unreleased tracks, like “Silver Tongue” and “Blameless Blue”, which will be included on the band’s first full-length album, set for release in July.
While the sparse, acoustic ambience of some of the softer numbers was moving and beautiful, they certainly turned it up a notch in the second set, which had most of the crowd on their feet, dancing and singing along, as the band tore through songs like “Dreamer” and “Fast Train.”
As much as the show pleased the sold-out crowd, you could see it on the band members’ faces as well, that the communal love of music, and having the crowd singing back their songs to them, was not lost on them, and they seemed to appreciate the night as much as the crowd did. The back and forth between artist and audience is one of the best things about live music—this band and venue were perfect together.
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