Elizabeth Powell is one powerhouse musician. Fronting her band, Land of Talk, at the Echoplex as part of Culture Collide Festival last night, they played songs off of their latest album, Cloak and Cipher with vigor and exuberance to represent Canada. Canada was beginning to rule last night and Land of Talk certainly weren’t afraid to unleash their stage presence and impressive musicianship.

Although there is always a hint of that indie folk rock aspect many artists signed to Saddle Creek seem to have, the new songs Powell and her band performed last night shone a spotlight on only the best of what was on the new record. Intricate vocal melodies have always weaved in and out of intense rock interludes in many of their songs but the strong pop-rock foundation on the new album gives Powell and company a tougher skin.

The set they chose to play barely included any of the ballads which Powell always perfectly executes with feeling, but that was acceptable under the current circumstances. With last night’s sets only running around 30 minutes, we needed them to cram in as much as they could. Highlights included recent songs such as “Quarry Hymns” and “Swift Coin,” yet the best song slipped into the set was definitely the incredible “May You Never.”

***Check more photos of Land of Talk out from our Culture Collide Festival photo gallery on Friday!