Every day this week, we'll introduce you to a pair of our Searchlight contenders who are going head-to-head in a sudden death vote to make it to the Searchlight Top 4. Click here to vote for your favourites.
This week, Hamilton and Kitchener–Waterloo go head-to-head as Searchlighters Poor Angus (from Hamilton) and Ambre McLean (from Guelph) vie for a spot in the final four.
Poor Angus is a Celtic quintet that sounds more like it's from the East Coast than the Hammer. They bring the sounds of Scotland and Ireland in their mix of modern and traditional music — and, fun fact, they're the only act in the top eight to have bagpipes!
The band started eight years ago and has had a lot of great gigs and adventures since, including moving to Los Angeles for a year to try out the music scene. But the best reaction to a song that lead singer Joel Guenther has seen was at a pub when a particularly inebriated fan went outside for a smoke, stood behind the window backing the band and dropped his pants to moon the entire audience.
"There's this photo of me ... singing, looking all sensitive ... and behind me, in the window, that guy with his pants down," Guenther said, laughing. "It's the best reaction to a song I've ever seen."
While the band's music doesn't normally inspire pants-dropping, you'll probably want to kick off your shoes and dance a jig when you hear Poor Angus's Celtic-inspired tunes. Click below to hear their song "Here's to You" (and if you haven't heard it already, click here for their Searchlight entry, "Something I Can't See.")
listen"Here's to You" by Poor Angus.
And representing Kitchener–Waterloo in the Searchlight showdown is Guelph singer-songwriter Ambre McLean. Armed with a guitar and her lyrics dripped with tales of love, loss and struggle, she'll be your new go-to album for when you have a bad day and need to hear from someone who just gets it, you know?
For a full-time musician, McLean has some pretty sweet digs. She and her husband (producer Matt Connell) have bought an old 1905 country church and have been fixing it up, complete with a recording studio. That's where McLean recorded her latest album, Live From Your Living Room.
If you're ever in the Guelph area, be sure to check out the eBar for the all-female music series Birds on a Wire, which McLean organizes. "I'm very excited to be hosting some of the greatest unsigned ladies with guitars that I know," she enthused.
Click below to listen to "When is That Day Gonna Come?," off McLean's latest album, Live From Your Living Room. (And if you haven't heard it already, you can listen to her Searchlight entry, "So Over" here.)
listen"When is That Day Gonna Come?" by Ambre McLean.
And there you have it, our first pair duking it out to make it to the next round of Searchlight! Click here to vote daily for your favourites.
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