Change looks good on Vancouver's Bend Sinister. Since the band's last full-length release---and its last trip to Halifax--- there's been a label switch and a line-up swap, but both leave room for only good things. "I think this is the tightest, most coherent the band's been," says founder Dan Moxon of the now four-piece outfit. "It's a really good dynamic." The band's newest release Small Fame re-imagines songs from a former side project of Moxon and drummer Jason Dana that shared the same name. "It's also an allusion to never quite getting where we want to be," says Moxon of the record he says is slightly more adventurous for the band, thanks in part to a new label. With their next project in the back of their minds, and Small Fame in its back pocket, next up for Bend Sinister is its first tour south of the border. --Allison Saunders
Friday October 12, Seahorse Tavern, 1665 Argyle Street, 9pm, $10