When I find myself describing the work of Carlyn Bezic (CEO at Jane Inc. Enterprises), I often reach past the standard complimentary musical signifiers going straight for the baseball scout language. Carlyn is the ultimate ‘toolsy player’ – a finesse artist with a comprehensive set of abilities. She shreds on guitar, she shreds on bass, she shreds on programming. She can sing lead, she can stack harmony, she can sing accompaniment. She can track, she can perform, she can write and conceptualize. She takes good press shots. When we played together routinely in Darlene Shrugg, she was infamous in our gang for reaching back at crucial stage moments for that something extra we knew only as the ‘stage demon.’

The thing that impresses me most however, is her ability to seamlessly transit back and forth between being that ultimate compliment to other performers (whether with U.S. Girls, Shrugg, Scott Hardware etc), and gracefully exemplifying that autonomous ‘solo’ impulse as she does so dexterously with Jane Inc. Add in the fact that Ice Cream, Carlyn’s duo of opposing equal forces with AManda Crist (perhaps the best Toronto band of the 2010’s) presents us with yet another distinct creative dynamic that Carlyn brings such vitality to. Comparisons in music writing are crass and needlessly sugary, but I will relent and proffer a hefty one here; if there is an artist operating on the Canadian independent scene today who brings to mind a Prince-like set of diverse abilities and genre interpretations it is, for my money, Carlyn Bezic.

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Max Turnbull is a Toronto-based musician and the driving force behind Badge Époque Ensemble and Badge Epoch. A prolific musician, you have likely seen Turnbull on stage with a handful of other great projects such as U.S. Girls, Darlene Shrugg, Slim Twig, The Cosmic Range and Tropics.

Jane Inc. plays Kazoo! Fest 2022 on Friday July 15th with Fat Tony, Status/Non-Status, and SHEBAD at Onyx (12 Wyndham St N., 2nd Floor). Tickets are available here.