Just 5 months removed from a packed-out headline set at our beloved Jazz Festival in July, hometown heroes Men I Trust are back in town for a pair of sold-out shows at MTelus, to close out the concert calendar for 2025 for most of us in the room.
Local folk singer Lauren Spear, playing under her moniker Le Ren, is charged with opening the show, backed by a veritable super-group of local artists in the form of Thanya Iyer, Fez Gielen, and Ben Vallee (Dorval represent!!!). It’s a chill 30 minutes, ultra-stripped and acoustic, with songs “about having a crush on someone who doesn’t have a crush on you back,” and “about dating musicians and realizing you actually just want to be a musician.” At times, it’s almost too delicate, as chatter from the bar and the floor overpowers the fragility of the music, but that’s no fault of Le Ren. You know that in a room with a more dedicated, respectful crowd, it would sound pretty spectacular; something I will be keeping an eye out for in the future!
And then it’s time for the headliners, who arrive on stage through smoke and climb up onto individual raised podiums across the stage, except for frontwoman Emma Proulx, who remains on the floor, but with a spotlight on her alone as the set opens with the synth bliss of To Ease You, from 2025’s stellar Equus Caballus record. Considering they released this alongside interconnected record Equus Asinus, it’s a little strange that the latter gets representation in the set in the form of only the bluegrass-influenced I Come With Mud, whereas Caballus gets 10 of its 13 songs aired. Maybe it’s down to the divergent sounds of the two records, with the dream-funk groove of Caballus easier to blend into the band’s catalogue than the folk-oriented Asinus?
In any case, how much you enjoy the first half of the show depends on how much you enjoy that new record, as the set is unquestionably front-loaded with the newer material. Guitarist Jessy Caron adds perfect harmonies to Emma’s lead vocal on songs like Husk and In My Years, while himself adding immense guitar work on songs like Come Back Down (with its monstrous solo), or the devastating riffs on The Better Half, which feels positively apocalyptic in conjunction with flashing strobe lights. Where I Sit sounds like it could have been lifted straight from a Smiths record, while Ring of Past is the encapsulation of the band’s exquisite smooth funk sound.
Being a fan of the new record myself, I am in my element, but there’s a sense that perhaps those who came unprepared are waiting for the material they recognize…
They don’t have to wait long, though. Humming Man from their self-titled 2014 record gets the first big clapalong of the night (shout out to the girl beside me who tries to Shazam it), and things go up another few notches with a montage of older songs which begins with the title track of their legendary 3rd record; the roar of the crowd declaring “YOU’RE LISTENING TO ONCLE JAZZ!” is by far and away the loudest singalong of the night so far, quickly followed by the snippet of Lauren that follows in the mash-up.
When regular song programming resumes, Seven gets another monstrous singalong, right down to the crowd singing the individual guitar notes. Another huge Jessy solo duels with Emma’s vocal, which is so soft that it never stands a chance. A silky-smooth Tailwhip elicits a huge clapalong at the breakdown, before merging into the dirty bass intro of the sinister Say, Can You Hear to close out the main set.
Summoned back to the stage with a chorus of olés, the roars that greet the arrival of a song as mellow as Show Me How are impressive, with a huge singalong to follow that also threatens to drown out Emma, too. A frantic Worn Down ends in a flurry of strobes and noise, before reforming into a mammoth Billie Toppy to bring the show to a triumphant conclusion after 85 glorious minutes.
“Merci Montreal, on vous aime!” declares Emma as she leaves the stage.
Men I Trust, on vous aime aussi!
Setlist
- To Ease You
- Come Back Down
- Husk
- Sugar
- Another Stone
- In My Years
- Ring of Past
- Serenade of Water
- Where I Sit
- The Better Half
- I Come With Mud
- Humming Man
- Oncle Jazz / Norton Commander (All We Need) / Hard To Let Go / Numb / Lauren / Oh Dove
- All Night
- Seven
- Tailwhip
- Say, Can You Hear
Encore
- Show Me How
- Worn Down
- Billie Toppy
Review & photos – Simon Williams
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