The Oh Wells at the Cobalt. Robyn Hanson photo

Review and photos – The Oh Wells at the Cobalt, Vancouver, Nov 26 2011

– text by Shawn Conner/photos by Robyn Hanson

With its opening line “Sorry I’m not that girl from Transformers,” “Is It Too Late to Apologize” is fast becoming The Oh Wells’ signature song. But on Wednesday night at their EP release party the five-piece Vancouver band showed there’s a lot more to the band than that catchy little novelty.

Led by triple-threat Sarah Jickling, The Oh Wells celebrated the release of their five-song EP Not That Girl From Transformers, getting “Is It Too Late” out of the way third song in and showcasing tunes like the wonderfully goofy “Go Outside” and the flagrantly ska “Dance With You”.

Jickling can write a song, belt out a tune and hold the audience rapt with a lightning-in-a-bottle combination of awkward self-consciousness and growing confidence. Watching her, the rest of the band was all smiles. Special mention should be made of drummer Ben Weymouth who kept everything on track with a solid rock ‘n’ roll backbeat.

For an encore, The Oh Wells came out for a cover of Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable”. Probably right after, Jickling went back to selling the cupcakes she’d brought for the occasion to go along with the new EP.

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