Now in their fourth year, the CBC Toque Sessions is a series of free shows at the CBC Vancouver building, featuring some great local talent, and recorded for later broadcast on CBC Radio 2 and CBC Music.

Celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, Vancouver's own Odds took to the stage in Studio 1 on the eve of the release of their new EP.

The set had a bit of a false start -- after they kicked off with "It Falls Apart" they had to pause for a moment to figure out some power issues -- but they were right back into it with "Make You Mad" and a couple other older songs before debuting the new EP, The Most Beautiful Place On Earth.

The first of three planned releases this year, the new songs proved they haven't lost a step; amazingly catchy power-pop-rock with clever lyrics and a little bit of darkness hidden behind sweet melodies. The title track, poking fun at BC's licence plate motto a little, and the slightly cynical but rocking "Took A Long Time (To Get To I Don't Care)" were a highlights from the five new songs.

Craig Northey, Doug Elliott, Pat Steward, and Murray Atkinson all had a great stage presence, the four members chiming in with jokes and stories between songs, and a fun energy while playing. Aside from the solid harmonies on songs like "Satisfied", on a couple songs Craig handed off lead vocals, with Murray singing "Eat My Brain" and Doug taking over on "The Truth Untold".

They ended the set with the infinitely catchy favourite "Someone Who Is Cool", but didn't even have a chance to leave the stage before the encore. After some more joking around, they replayed "It Falls Apart", due to it not being recorded earlier and finished off with a couple older tunes, capping off the evening with "Fingerprints" from their second album Bedbugs.

They are a really fun band and put on a great live show, as you might expect from a veteran band, but it was made even more impressive when they admitted Craig was just getting over laryngitis -- though it was hardly noticeable, mostly just when he was chatting between songs. They did tease more new material this year and I, for one, am definitely looking forward to it, and hope they do some more touring as well.

setlist
It Falls Apart, Make You Mad, Satisfied, Write It In Lightning, Anything You Want, Most Beautiful Place On Earth, High, Took A Long Time (To Get To I Don't Care), Cardboard Box of Dust, Nothing Beautiful, Not A Lot Going On, Mercy To Go, Eat My Brains, Someone Who Is Cool.
(encore) It Falls Apart, The Truth Untold, Fingerprints.