Acoustic gig misses thunder
Published in Berkshire Eagle, 5/26/10
By Jeremy D. Goodwin
PITTSFIELD—The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are getting itchy.
Last year saw the release of an album (It’s Blitz!) on which the hard-driving rock trio veered into electronic textures, adding up to something not quite introspective but not exactly garage rock either. Then its members collaborated, under frontwoman Karen O’s leadership, on the acoustic-oriented soundtrack to Where the Wild Things Are.
Now come the first rumblings of the “acoustic project,” complete with the expected string trio.
The show at the Colonial Theatre on Tuesday featuring Karen O, fellow Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ member Nick Zinner, and a small ensemble of acoustic collaborators was a fun, if hit-and-miss, affair.
The best came last, with a single-song encore of “Zero” (the hit single from It’s Blitz!) on which the strings (two violins and a cello), which felt merely ornamental much of the evening, finally emerged as a gorgeous counterweight to O’s emotive vocals and Zinner’s enthusiastic (if rudimentary) guitar strumming.
Other material from that album also fared especially well, like “Hysteric,” an aching lament made all the more poignant with string colorings, as O repeated the winking refrain “You suddenly complete me…hysterical.” Some of the best Yeah Yeah Yeah’s songs, like this and “Maps,” succeed mysteriously, pinned around little wisps of melody that somehow become indelible. On slower numbers like these (though “Maps” was marred by a mid-song lyrical gaffe), the essence of the song came through.
Published in Berkshire Eagle, 5/26/10
By Jeremy D. Goodwin
PITTSFIELD—The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are getting itchy.
Last year saw the release of an album (It’s Blitz!) on which the hard-driving rock trio veered into electronic textures, adding up to something not quite introspective but not exactly garage rock either. Then its members collaborated, under frontwoman Karen O’s leadership, on the acoustic-oriented soundtrack to Where the Wild Things Are.
Now come the first rumblings of the “acoustic project,” complete with the expected string trio.
The show at the Colonial Theatre on Tuesday featuring Karen O, fellow Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ member Nick Zinner, and a small ensemble of acoustic collaborators was a fun, if hit-and-miss, affair.
The best came last, with a single-song encore of “Zero” (the hit single from It’s Blitz!) on which the strings (two violins and a cello), which felt merely ornamental much of the evening, finally emerged as a gorgeous counterweight to O’s emotive vocals and Zinner’s enthusiastic (if rudimentary) guitar strumming.
Other material from that album also fared especially well, like “Hysteric,” an aching lament made all the more poignant with string colorings, as O repeated the winking refrain “You suddenly complete me…hysterical.” Some of the best Yeah Yeah Yeah’s songs, like this and “Maps,” succeed mysteriously, pinned around little wisps of melody that somehow become indelible. On slower numbers like these (though “Maps” was marred by a mid-song lyrical gaffe), the essence of the song came through.
Hysteric (acoustic version)
It's Blitz! bonus track
But the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ best assets are sweat and swagger, and this format did not play to the band’s strengths. O is not a technically great singer, but she succeeds with Everygirl stylings that maximize her pinched but expressive vocal instrument—not to mention a raucous stage presence that on this evening found little room to flower. And so she failed to fill the space left by the missing sonic swagger. (The biggest crowd response of the whole evening came the one instance when she jumped up and down several times mid-song.) We also learned that Zinner, though an author of great rock bombast with the amps plugged in, is not especially accomplished on the acoustic.
It was wise to include former Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ touring guitarist Imaad Wasif (doing double duty as a competent, though undistinguished, opening act) in the ensemble, but the basic-vanilla acoustic arrangements limited what he and Zinner could do. Though their syncopated, up-tempo strumming did much to stir the generally adoring audience, there was a general sameness among the faster numbers. It’s no coincidence that delightfully shambling rocker “All Is Love,” conceived from scratch as an acoustic piece, was particularly successful. Just about any of the songs this night, taken alone, were perfectly enjoyable. But more musical variation is necessary to sustain the energy over the course of a whole show.
The group included a brush-wielding drummer whose name I couldn’t catch (he didn’t look to me like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Brian Chase), violinist and strings arranger Gillian Davis, and her two cohorts, introduced by first name only.
If this experimental gig—the first set-length acoustic performance by the sort-of Yeah Yeah Yeahs—lacked some nuance, it definitely laid the groundwork for a more successful go-round to come. With more fully articulated arrangements and a frontwoman more comfortable with the need to carry the evening on her voice, this still-searching band may find something memorable here. But for what was essentially an out-of-town warm-up gig, it left few disappointed.
It was wise to include former Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ touring guitarist Imaad Wasif (doing double duty as a competent, though undistinguished, opening act) in the ensemble, but the basic-vanilla acoustic arrangements limited what he and Zinner could do. Though their syncopated, up-tempo strumming did much to stir the generally adoring audience, there was a general sameness among the faster numbers. It’s no coincidence that delightfully shambling rocker “All Is Love,” conceived from scratch as an acoustic piece, was particularly successful. Just about any of the songs this night, taken alone, were perfectly enjoyable. But more musical variation is necessary to sustain the energy over the course of a whole show.
The group included a brush-wielding drummer whose name I couldn’t catch (he didn’t look to me like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Brian Chase), violinist and strings arranger Gillian Davis, and her two cohorts, introduced by first name only.
If this experimental gig—the first set-length acoustic performance by the sort-of Yeah Yeah Yeahs—lacked some nuance, it definitely laid the groundwork for a more successful go-round to come. With more fully articulated arrangements and a frontwoman more comfortable with the need to carry the evening on her voice, this still-searching band may find something memorable here. But for what was essentially an out-of-town warm-up gig, it left few disappointed.
