Miracle Fortress Perform New Tracks at CMW

Think About Life's Graham Van Pelt has done a complete overhaul on the sound of his other project, Miracle Fortress. On Thursday, building off of his performance at last year's Pop Montreal Music Festival, Van Pelt treated the CMW audience at Lee's Palace in Toronto to an entire set of new songs off of his as-yet-untitled new record, which is due out next month.

Van Pelt's set-up certainly has a lot in common with Canadian electro-dance duo Woodhands, with Van Pelt's hypnotic, dreamy guitar riffs taking the place of Dan Werb's keytar. Like Woodhands, Van Pelt fully encases his atmospheric riffs -- a staple in past Miracle Fortress releases such as 2007's Polaris Prize-nominated 'Five Roses' -- in thick layers of '80s dance-rock intertwining with shiny coats of synth-pop bliss.

At the show, Van Pelt opted to offer up new tracks such as 'Miscalculations' and 'Everything Works' in a near-pitch black room, with only flickering laser lights outlining his body enough for the audience to see him. While that might have enraged photographers, it played to the strength of the throbbing beats and helped create a distinct mood for Van Pelt's newfound niche of late-night dance club soundtracks.

Although the upcoming release is shrouded in mystery -- the only clues are a website that simply says "WITW?" -- one thing is clear: Miracle Fortress can make you dance.

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