Art dEcco at The Rivoli – CMW 2019

When:  CMW May 11, 2019
Where: The Rivoli (334 Queen St W)

Total Score: 8

Visual/Sound Presentation: 8
Stage Presence: 8
Musical Ability: 7
Crowd Reception: 7
Wow Factor: 8

When an androgynous-looking front person takes the stage in a blue floral print suit and shiny red pleather boots, you’re going to take notice.  When that person is Vancouver’s Art d’Ecco, you’re going to do so even more. 

Taking the stage at a less-than-ideal 9pm time at The Rivoli, Art d’Ecco played to a packed house.  Given that this was a Paquin Artists Agency showcase, that maybe shouldn’t have been a huge surprise, but at least half the people in the had crowd left by the time the next set had started, so clearly the industry-heavy crowd knew who they were there to see. 

Backed by a three-piece band and supplemented by tracks, d’Ecco maintained a high energy level with his androgynous vocal delivery and danceable songs that kept the crowd moving.  The Bowie comparisons are obvious and probably invited, but d’Ecco’s glammed-up brand of art pop is all his own.  Catchy choruses are set off against thudding bass and fuzzed-out guitars and ethereal synths to create memorable and distinct songs.  The instrumentals, written entirely by d’Ecco themselves, are the foundation for vocals that soar overtop to create swirling layers of melody. 

Listen to standout single “Nobody’s Home” and rocking banger, “Dark Days (revised), and then dive in to Art d’Ecco’s debut album, Trespasser.  The album title is apt, as this is clearly an artist that revels in transgression and plays at the boundaries between male and female, rock and pop, and person and persona.

Not easily categorized, this unique homegrown act is one to watch.  

Review and photo by: Conor McSweeny

THE SCENE