French DJ Félix Burnod stops in Toronto on his debut EP tour.
It’s Good Friday at Toronto’s Velvet Underground and most people are probably at home enjoying dinner with their families, which is likely why it’s so easy to get to the centre of the dance floor.
Oddulator, a Toronto local, is already spinning some energetic drum & bass and the crowd is moving, but as he picks up the microphone the audience becomes laser focused. The Caracal Project has entered the building.
The Caracal Project is the moniker of Félix Burnod, a French DJ and producer who focuses on melodic drum & bass. He’s on tour promoting his latest EP, “Self reflections:”
I can see from the rapt expressions of those around me that I am not the only fan in attendance, but Burnod still has a lot to prove.
It’s his first time headlining a tour-, not to mention his first time in North America. For his first tour it’s a pretty serious one: beginning in LA, ending in Vancouver and hitting stops like Budapest, Hungary, and Red Rocks, CO., along the way.
Burnod enters quietly and politely, ends the track and without looking up from the controls, picks up the microphone and utters a shy, “Toronto.”
We give him the warm welcome that we all hope Canadian crowds are famous for, and like any good DJ, he wastes no time starting the set.
And he does not disappoint. It’s explosive, it’s eclectic, it’s everything a good DJ set should be; everything feels fresh and improvised, the drums hammer away, with frequent beat changes surprising you at every turn.
When you’re at the brink of exhaustion, you’re rewarded with a few seconds of beautiful melody before jumping right back into the deadly rhythms of his discography.
The true power of the Caracal Project is how danceable Burnod’s work is without sacrificing emotionality. His deliberate use of acoustic drums, orchestral strings and his own vocals create an organic sentimentality that most electronic music just doesn’t have.
(Kyle Stewart/@kylejstewart_photo)
The result is clear on the dance floor: complete strangers turning to face each other, locking eyes, singing the lyrics, swapping dance moves and losing their shit together when he plays his earth shattering remix of “Humble.”
As we near the end of the night, Burnod plays his big single and approaches the stage to have a moment with the crowd. He stands at the front of the stage and raises both arms as the bass drops, and his audience is certain of what he’s trying to do.
A myriad of arms reach forwards and grab Burnod’s shirt. Like a scene out of The Walking Dead, the hoard pulls their victim into the crowd and then up into the air where he hovers, arms out to the side like a cross, bouncing up and down to the beat of the music.
Once he’s able to wrestle himself away, Burnod takes the microphone and cuts the track.
“That was not part of the plan,” he says. “I like that.”
Greg Burkell for The B-Side.
