NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
When I arrived early for mxmtoon’s show at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on May 4th, I knew it was going to be a wild ride. The line several hours before the show was already almost two city blocks long! I had met mxmtoon (aka Maia) in 2019 at a session at the Paste Studio after she had released her debut LP “The Masquerade” and was very impressed with her, not only with her musicianship but with her intelligence and eloquence at the tender age of 19. Fast forward through the pandemic and her sophomore record “Rising” is set to be released in two weeks! She has already released three singles off that album: “Mona Lisa”, “Sad Disco” and “Victim of Nostalgia”. After writing about high school life as a teenager, she has evolved, at twenty-one, into a little more indie pop with some lo-fi hip hop thrown in. With nineteen year old indie/bedroom pop phenom Chloe Moriondo opening, the crowd was sure to be young and enthusiastic!
Getting her start on YouTube back in 2014, Chloe Moriondo has put her personal life in the public eye, whether it’s through her music or on social media. She released her latest EP “puppy luv” in April and it includes a very sweet track “sammy” (which was also on the setlist) dedicated to her dog. Her music does tend to be very cute and sweet, almost too sweet, until you actually listen to the lyrics. They really encapsulate the full range of emotions as they do with any teenager. The fun set included “I Want to be With You”, which was included on the soundtrack for an episode of the Netflix series “Heartstopper”. That’s a song where Moriondo really gets to rock out a bit but also where she had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction. While the outfit was adorable, it felt like she was always one headbang away from another slip.
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In contrast to Moriondo’s bustier, mxmtoon came out in a babydoll dress. I wasn’t sure quite what to expect when she hit the stage but, based on her music, I thought it would be a reasonable mellow evening. How wrong I was. The live arrangements for the songs were very different, providing a more “rock” feel. For softer ballads, the crowd would sway and hold up their cell phone lights, except for one old schooler who had a lighter. The fans would jump and dance on livelier songs. Either way, the audience was singing along to almost every song. She even had me singing along! However, I did think the drums were way too loud for many of these songs…and I love a heavy rhythm section at live shows. It felt like the louder instruments required mxmtoon to project more, ruining some of the beautiful inflections and quality in her voice. The only song where the rock and roll sound felt appropriate was on “Coming of Age” from her upcoming record, which was really well done. The highlight of the set, for me, was the three acoustic songs she played with just the ukelele. She wrapped up the evening with an encore of “Prom Dress” and “Mona Lisa”, which had the audience dancing throughout the songs and into the night.
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