The streets of New York City’s Lower East Side were loud and abuzz as groups of people made their way from bar to bar throughout the night, trying to catch this year’s performances at the CMJ Music Marathon and Film Festival.
Among the hundreds of bands performing at the week long annual CMJ festival, first established in 1978, was the Toronto based band the Little Girls.
The Little Girls performed their 25-minute set on a rainy, cool fall night this past Saturday, to a small crowd in one of the intimate show rooms at Piano’s, a popular downtown bar and music venue.
Little Girls is the brainchild of lead singer Josh McIntyre, 22, along with three friends who perform with him on stage, each of whom were a part of other bands in Toronto. He first developed the band as a side project while he was in the band, Pirate/Rock.
As part of Pirate/Rock, McIntyre says he didn’t have all the control of the music, playing only the drums and providing background vocals. He recorded a few songs on his own early this year and decided to post them on Myspace under the name Little Girls in an attempt to find unbiased opinions from his friends and family-it worked.
His side-project started to gain attention and McIntyre then turned his full focus onto developing the Little Girls.
With Little Girls he has had the opportunity to do more. For his latest band, McIntyre provides lead vocals and does the recording and producing.
‘It’s all me, I am sort of at the forefront of everything.’
The self-proclaimed post-punk singer is just that, sounding reminiscent of the London punk-rock scene of the 80s.
His musical style is surprising, considering his musical influences-Hip-Hop.
‘It boggles people’s minds,’ he said half laughing and half smiling, adding ‘I listen to hip-hop all the time.’
On Oct. 13th McIntyre released his new album ‘Concepts’ with Paper Bag Records, including his first recordings under the name Little Girls and some new material. The 11-track album is an easy listen, with most tracks no longer than two and half minutes, each song flowing effortlessly into the other in a melancholy key.’
What is interesting about Little Girls is that most of his songs sound as though they are purely instrumental. When this point was brought up to McIntyre he smiles with a youthful expression.
‘The vocals are very buried in the mix,’ he said.
One thing is clear from watching McIntyre on stage– he is a dedicated musician who loves to give the audience a heart-felt performance.
At Saturday’s performance he ended his set with high-energy and enthusiasm, showing off just how strong his voice is.
Though McIntyre currently lives in Toronto, he has hopes of moving to the New York.
‘At some point I plan to, when the time is right.’