The two charming young women who call themselves IDER often joke that the moniker is the name they give the harmonic union of their voices, which they once referred to as the third member of the band. Although the pair now insist IDER is but a made-up word, after their live set at the Fox Cabaret the other night, I fear they may have manifested their own reality.
One can surely get a sense of the haunting, ethereal mood the pair evoke via their recorded material, but there was something resonant about their live sound. Aided in part by the acoustics of the venerable Fox Cabaret in Mount Pleasant, Lily Somerville and Megan Markwick captivated fans that had braved the snow to come and see them play. A few fans were so enthralled by the performance they couldn’t help but shout “I love you!” several times throughout the night.
The two English artists are both vocalists and multi-instrumentalists who met at University in 2012 and are currently touring North America in support of their album Emotional Education. On their own, Somerville’s vocals echo through lower registers while Markwick’s soar in the higher octaves. But when their voices merge, they generate a mesmerizing and hypnotic sound that IMHO, does sound like its own entity.
Thematically, their songs deliver on all topics related to coming of age, including romantic and familial revelations, expressed through a feminine viewpoint. They manage to capture universal moods and emotions within the context of our current times, often incorporating nuances of texting and social media into their lyrics.
It felt cozy in the small music hall despite the cold and the falling snow. Like the rest of the crowd, I was spellbound by the energy between Somerville and Markwick, swaying to the enchanting vocal harmonies and the accompanying music. That said, I really loved the edgy guitar that accented the yearning in “Wu Baby.”
Their set the other night was short but sweet enough that when they announced “Mirror” would be their final song, the crowd was having none of it, and began chanting “two more songs, two more songs!” With a resolve I’ve not yet seen by a Vancouver crowd, they took to chanting at the end of the song and didn’t stop until the pair returned to the stage a short time later.
Somerville and Marwick treated their adoring fans to a beautiful, melancholic number I hadn’t heard before called “Does She Even Know” before closing the night with a cover of OutKast’s anthemic “Roses,”. They really made it their own, and there was a surprising number of fans that knew the lyrics well enough to cover the holler back parts of the number.
The pair head back east to Chicago next, and will be on North America’s East Coast for another week before heading home to prepare for another quick tour starting at the end of the month. Check out their website for more info!
