As Venues Close, This Musician-Run Label Keeps the Lights On

On a cold night in late November, the warmth of a large crowd simmered behind two sets of doors, gathered for an M for Montreal festival concert, featuring a showing from the made-in-Montreal label Mothland Records. The energy and excited chatter cut through the slushy darkness of early winter, a time when the city tends to sleep.

The musicians would take stage in an hour. For now, the crowd swells quickly, hugs and kisses all around, no separating performer and audience. I can't help but feel this wintertime gathering tells its own enduring story in the era of noise complaints and closing venues, a light turned on while litany of establishments have gone dark over rising costs of living and rent like House of Jazz, 2Pierrots, Katacombes, Divan Orange, and Blue Dog.