Ohad Benchetrit opened with solo guitar – looped, amplified, and distorted. For his first song, a trumpet joined him with long blown notes.  Then, alone, he looped layers upon himself until they were so thick if you closed your eyes you would never have believed there was only one man performing.

It is rare to have a public discussion about happiness, but Chris Spearin cultivated a space for it.  His personal venture, The Happiness Project, is a series of interviews with his neighbors on the subject of happiness.  Spearin manipulated the interviews in several different manners.  For one neighbor, a long interview clip was played twice.  The first time, we only heard his neighbor’s words.  The second time, Karen Ng followed the neighbor’s pitch and lines of contour on the saxophone.  Out of context, it could have been a seductive jazz solo.

For other interviews, Spearin isolated and looped certain phrases while the entire performing force (two guitars, two drum sets, bass, violin, saxophone, trumpet, keyboard) played in a sound most similar to their Broken Social Scene persona.

Do Make Say Think was the final exclamation point on the evening.  Every member of the band played his/her heart out at the same time recalling free Jazz collective improvisation.  But, their bass-driven sound is distinctly related to rock music.  No matter how you want to describe them, the energy they created was undeniably electrifying and a great way to end the night.

While their style hasn’t changed since their self-released and self-titled EP from 1997, their ever-growing chemistry has intensified their music allowing the band to massage one riff for extended periods of time without losing momentum.

During the last decade, band member Charles Spearin has played with other bands such as Broken Social Scene and KC Accidental.  Charles Spearin’s most recent side project, The Happiness Project, will open the evening.  The inception of The Happiness Project came about after Spearin interviewed several residents of his Toronto neighborhood on the subject of happiness.  He has since interwoven these interviews with experimental jazz sounds to create a unique auditory experience.  Especially now, when the sun is shy, what could be better than talk of happiness?

Fellow Canadian band The Years will open the night at Mississippi Studios on Thursday, February 4th.  Doors are at 8:00 PM and the show begins at 9:00 PM.  Tickets are $15.