We referenced it last week at the tail end of our review of The Wrong Shapes' delightful full-length debut, but it bears repeating: the Boston chamber-pop duo perform tomorrow night at the legendary Club Passim in Harvard Square. We'd venture to say that we haven't seen a show there in, oh, 15 years, but our recollection is the club retains a feel of old Cambridge, you know, ivy, cigarettes, berets, counterculture, counter-counterculture, horticulture. But we digress. We think you will find The Wrong Shapes every bit as enjoyable in the flesh as you do in the MP3, and so we recommend the show to your attention. You will see plenty of the distaff portion of the pair tomorrow, as cellist Rachel Barringer also abets the also-billed The Grownup Noise, the Boston folk-pop quintet most famous (not really) for distressing us with a cover of an early '90s hip-hop song (okay, that actually happened).
Fortunately, The Grownup Noise's top-shelf songwriting, and said songs' potent emotional payload, make the band very easy to like. Exhibit A is the thrilling final two minutes of "Six Foot Solemn Oath," which features a cracking vocal arrangement winding around a brushed shuffle and amid gentle piano. It's perfection, and it is the sort of thing that makes us ask The Grownup Noise when it will have new music to hear; it's most recent collection This Time With Feeling was released in 2011 (which, now that we look, was also the last time we saw the band). Americana artist Patrick Coman rounds out the bill tomorrow night, and full details of the evening are available right here at this Facebook event page. Spend some time with the embeds below, and then consider making the scene. There is, of course, no shortage of great shows tomorrow, so if you can't drag your ass to Harvard Square or if Passim sells out, consider checking in on Boston dream-pop veterans The Hush Now down the road at TT's, or anxiety-pop titans Chandos across the river at Church. On to the streamable music, indie rock aficionadoes!
The unlikely but bewitching pop sounds of Boston duo The Wrong Shapes endlessly blossom across the 10 songs of this full-length debut, like a fractal opening into perpetuity. The evocative music wrought by wife-and-husband unit and city scene veterans Rachel and Bo Barringer may be limited in their capacity to illustrate infinity only by their minimalist framework. But even so the collection's thrilling aural reach exceeds its grasp, and taken in sum its songs are much more than an illumination of thousands of small gestural iterations. While touchstones such as the music of Arthur Russell and certain solo work of David Byrne feel obvious, there is nothing obvious about Reverse The Phase. The charming set's mystery, beauty and even sedate pageantry distinguishes The Wrong Shapes' work even within the exceedingly rich Boston music ecosystem.
The Wrong Shapes weave hypnotic compositions from resonant bowed cello, skeletal guitar leads, hand and canned percussion and gentle vocal arrangements. From these elements the pair conjures stirring pop moments, as in the buoyant (and obliquely Jim Morrison-referencing) album highlight "Alright, Alright." But the pair's greater achievement may be the thrumming ambience that cloaks the entirety of Reverse The Phase -- particularly its brilliant instrumental "Actual Girls" and transcendent closing title track -- in a bright and optimistic psychedelia. Perhaps it is the feel conveyed by the attack of the bow across the cello string, but there is a physical dimension to certain of the playing, as well, which firmly roots songs like "My Laugh Is Simple, Your Hips Are Complicated" to a more distinct reality. Ms. Barringer's cello work, in particular, suggests a laborer's craftsmanship, despite an overall soft affect to the music of Reverse The Phase. The Wrong Shapes, fortunately, do not make the listener choose between pop or psych or ambient or rooted: the aesthetics co-exist -- even seamlessly merge -- in a way that suggests, well, the ideal of a marital partnership. Such an abstracted assessment may overlook the humor in the act's music (the song title "My Aim Is Terrible," of course, is a winking riff on the Elvis Costello lyric from "Alison.") and minimize the duo's brilliant composing and arranging. Indeed, there is much to hear in this record, which seems to find new ways of revealing itself with every listen.
The Wrong Shapes self-release Reverse The Phase today as a digital download. The duo fetes the new collection with a release party June 18 at the legendary Club Passim in Cambridge, Mass. The show includes sets by Boston folk rock leading lights The Grownup Noise, for which Ms. Barringer also plays cello, as well as Patrick Coman and the Lo-Fi Angels. Complete details can be found within this Facebook event page. Reverse The Phase is available for purchase right here, and you may stream the entire set via the Bandcamp embed below.
Boston indie pop master craftspersons lock in three dates, two sets per night at 10PM and midnight. Full details at the Facebook Event page here. We last saw the band perform at Johnny D's in Somerville, MA in July, and we wrote about that here. How about a song?
Brilliant, Boston-based folk pop superlatives The Grownup Noise's hour of stirring, upbeat material Friday night marked at least a few milestones. In addition to being accordion-fingerer/keyboard banger Todd Marsten's birthday, the performance was the last Boston date with cellist and back-up singer Katie Franich, who is leaving the band to pursue an advanced degree in Chicago. The set was also billed as the band's summer tour kick-off (dates below), but fronter Paul Hansen mentioned from the stage The Grownup Noise was rounding out a week of dates with lively San Franciscans Blisses B (both bands took to the floor with acoustic instruments for the latter act's rousing final number), so we were a bit confused. But no matter. For those unfamiliar with The Grownup Noise, the quintet trades in smiling, wry pop, blessed with neatly arranged, McCartney-grade composition and an undercurrent of Westerberg-styled depression.
Last night's show drew heavily from the band's sophomore full-length This Time With Feeling, which was released earlier this year on the heels of the rock-solid Shall We? EP sprung in late 2010 (a self-titled record was released in 2007). But there were also a few new songs in the set as well. The breezy winner "Strawmen" opened the evening, and a fully realized and beatific "Outside" -- released as a spare solo composition on the aforementioned Shall We? -- closed out the triumphant set. Between the two the crowd was treated to a transcendent "Six Foot Solemn Oath" -- which features a desperately beautiful duet layering of Mr. Hansen and Ms. Franich's voices in its second half -- as well as the gripping new number "Fight Against Paranoia" and a wacky take on "Midnight Hour." Wacky because as the band jammed toward a finish Hansen and Marsten traded licks including varying themes from the Star Wars soundtrack, the A-Team theme and the lead salvo from "Crazy Train."
Which leads us to this point. One thing we noted last night is just how deft a guitarist fronter Hansen is. He occasionally unfurled some attention-grabbing leads, undulating streams of melody that spread like thrown spools of wide, shiny ribbon. It wasn't flashy, it was just really wonderful, and given how little of it Hansen incorporates, it makes it all the more special when it comes out. We don't envy Mr. Hansen's potential/probable search for a voice as perfectly suited to the job of trading lines with his own as that of Ms. Franich, but we're hopeful. The Grownup Noise has a very busy summer ahead, as evidenced by the cascade of appearances listed below, but really, at this point, we selfishly just want them to stay in town and play for us. Buy This Time With Feeling at Bandcamp right here.
07.31 -- THE ROCK SHOP -- BROOKLYN, NY
08.03 -- DANGER DANGER GALLERY -- PHILADELPHIA, PA
08.04 -- VELVET LOUNGE -- WASHINGTON , DC
08.05 -- KAFE KEROUAC -- COLUMBUS, OH
08.06 -- UNCLE SLAYTON'S -- LOUISVILLE, KY
08.07 -- SOUTH PARK TAVERN -- DAYTON, OH
08.08 -- SCHUBAS -- CHICAGO, IL
08.09 -- THE 5 SPOT -- NASHVILLE, TN
08.11 -- HI-DIVE -- DENVER, CO
08.15 -- SILVERLAKE LOUNGE -- LOS ANGELES, CA
08.17 -- THE UPTOWN -- OAKLAND, CA
08.18 -- HEMLOCK TAVERN -- SAN FRANCISCO , CA
08.19 -- THE DISTILLERY -- SACRAMENTO, CA
08.23 -- THE KNIFE SHOP -- PORTLAND, OR
08.24 -- HI-DIVE -- SEATTLE , WA
Some things are just not for us, and we throw folksy stuff into that category, but in perhaps one of the most tired tropes in writing, we now inevitably state this: The Grownup Noise is kind of folksy, but even so we love it. The latest EP, Shall We?, is a beautiful short set. As we said here in July, "Shall We? is replete with light, bright and mostly piano-led indie pop. We're a fan of all five songs, particularly "Six Foot Solemn Oath" and its vocal interplay between fronter Paul Hansen and cellist Katie Franich." We expect Tuesday night's show at Passim will be wonderful, as the band will be tour-tight after its recent circumnavigation of the continent. Once more for your listening pleasure, here's the solo strummer "Outside."
08.10 -- Gooskies -- Pittsburgh, PA 08.11 -- Ball Hall -- Chicago, IL 08.13 -- Glasslands -- Brooklyn, NY 09.30 -- The Burners -- Bethlehem, PA 10.01 -- Glasslands -- Brooklyn, NY 10.20 -- CMJ Showcase -- New York, NY
>> We were minding our own business a year ago seeing favorites Varsity Drag along when we realized we were witnessing a pretty impressive performance by an opener with which we were completely unfamiliar. The band was The Grownup Noise, they were (are) local, and they were kicking off a national tour. We exchanged raised eyebrows of approval with Mr. Piantigini, and made mention of the set right here. The Grownup Noise's music is a little more singer-songwritery than what we typically go for, but we find it compelling nonetheless, and stand by our assessment from exactly one year ago today, except for maybe the Buckner part: "The band blends the voice of Richard Buckner, the cello work from Built To Spill and indie hooks filtered through a cracking pop sense, which for some reason made us think of Paul Simon." Coincidentally, The Grownup Noise are about to head out on tour -- its fifth -- again, and bassist Adam Sankowski has shared with us the quartet's pending EP Shall We?, which it will be promoting while the finishing touches are applied to the band's next full-length (both the EP and full-length were recorded with Scott Solter, who has also worked on records you've heard by Spoon and Okkervil River). Shall We? is replete with light, bright and mostly piano-led indie pop. We're a fan of all five songs, particularly "Six Foot Solemn Oath" and its vocal interplay between fronter Paul Hansen and cellist Katie Franich. But below we're posting the solo, guitar-centric ballad "Outside," which conveys a resonant poignancy and solitude, and also features a memorable phrase we've always loved from All About Chad's "I Can't Sleep." The Grownup Noise kick off its tour with a local gig July 31 at Lizard Lounge, and we expect you'll be able to buy the new EP from them that evening. Full tour dates are posted at the band's MySpazz.
>> Garagey pop-punk trio Sleepies got in touch this month to introduce themselves, and we've listened to their recent self-titled set quite a bit. What we keep returning to over and over is the raucous closer "Housewife." The song commences with a shouted count-off and then unleashes a scritchy torrent of uptempo rock that reminds us of very early Superchunk a touch. The chorus is a shouter, a real beer-hall anthem. Sleepies was released by the band in May, and you can buy the set directly from them right here. The trio was cool enough to permit us to offer "Housewife," surely its strongest calling card, so check it out below. Sleepies has two hometown shows on the books: Aug. 4 at Death By Audio and Aug. 13 at The Acheron, both in Brooklyn.
