concert review – Page 3 – Queen City Sounds and Art

Live Show Review: Charli XCX at Ogden Theatre 4/6/22

Charli XCX at Ogden Theatre 04/06/22, photo by Tom Murphy

Given her status as a popular pop artist it was a bit surprising to see Charli XCX booked at the 1,600 capacity Ogden Theatre but that’s been roughly the size of venues she’s playing on the tour supporting her 2022 album Crash. Reviews of the record suggested that it wasn’t as experimental as her earlier releases and perhaps that’s right. But the quality of songwriting is still solid and songs like “Beg For You” and “Good Ones” are easily among her most immediately compelling even if you’re not necessarily drawn to modern pop music. “Every Rule” was produced by Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never who is one of the most respected experimental electronic artists these days to name just one producer for the record pointing to how the experimental side of the singer’s material is still very central to her output.

But how would this new music that is seemingly more traditionally more pop in tone and composition and older favorites steeped in hyperpop and experimental electronic music translate live? The stage set was minimal with only Charli and two male dancers on stage dressed like pop stars from another planet. The projections and light show were also low key and the stage lighting low like we were getting to see the show in an even smaller venue, the kind of underground club where many pop artists might like to start and perform more often to have a more direct connection with the people that show up. Charli came to put on a show and sure there was some fine choreography obvious from her and the two other dancers but it was something somehow both dramatic and brash but low key. It was never over the top yet expressed the heartfelt melodramatic emotions that make for music that sticks in your mind for years. No one wants to see a pop artist that is too hesitant in self-expression.

Charli XCX also managed to exude an open sensuality and confidence but as part of her songs that are thoughtful, nuanced and raw but relatable. If she was miming the music you couldn’t tell and the set list seemed arranged in a way where she could take breaks and remain incredibly energetic and engaging throughout with more mellow songs hitting at just the right time for the emotional arc of the show as well. Not once did the artist remark on the altitude because, really, wouldn’t be a bit rote to say something about that knowing people hear it all the time? There was something that hit you as tasteful about the presentation even if you’re the puritanical type to note Charli’s minimal outfit. Charli’s music delves into both the internal emotional dynamics we all navigate as well as feeling and owning being an imperfect human with needs and desires that should never be a source of shame. The content of Charli’s words are never esoteric but also rarely unintentionally mundane, just crafted in a way that is accessible to pretty much anyone. This show drawing from a wide swath of her career but focused on the new record, as you’d expect, was proof that Charli XCX as a commanding and passionate performer and as an artist is someone that appreciates her role as an artist in its various capacities and the opportunity making pop music provides for commenting on the personal and making it vehicle for articulating collective experiences with creativity and a clarity that resonates beyond the realm of mainstream music and beyond the narrow confines of popular music genres.

Live Show Review: Circle Jerks at Ogden Theatre

Circle Jerks at Ogden Theatre 3/19 2022 photo by Tom Murphy

Keith Morris opened the Circle Jerks set with a statement about why they were playing Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass over the sound system before the show. He explained that one of the guys that started A&M Records wanted to sign the Jerks but they ended up not doing so but that maybe Herb Albert heard the band while recording Group Sex or Wild in the Streets and commented on what he was hearing. After this impromptu bit of history as anecdote Morris mentioned how they were here to celebrate the reissue of two albums that came out some forty years ago and then the band went headlong into the set as a reminder of how Circle Jerks’ music has retained its power and relevancy because we’re in the grips of another right wing wave of conservative culture but one more virulent.

The music was a bracing reminder of how powerful the Jerks were from the beginning but even Morris and guitarist Greg Hetson wore t-shirts of a couple of the Los Angeles area punk bands that were perhaps an influence on their own trajectory with Morris in a Weirdos shirt and Hetson in one of Bags with Alice Bag’s face prominent. The image of the Circle Jerks from the name of the band to their presentation is of conscious middle and working class angst and rebellion against the conformity and bland and safe mediocrity that ensured a level of comfort that made insipid and destructive groups like the Moral Majority (and thus the title of the song) possible and the mentality that lead to it something easy to critique with the spirited irreverence of the band’s music. Maybe there wasn’t as much acrobatic performance as in the early 80s but the intensity was still there and maybe Morris sings better than he has before with ample commentary on the crowd and the situations we’re in in his inimitable incisive yet slackery and self-deprecating wit, the kind it’s impossible to not find a little charming.

Keith Morris of Circle Jerks at Ogden Theatre 3/19/22 photo by Tom Murphy

But throughout the show it was stunning and a little alarming to realize the subjects of so many of the songs have aged well because America has simple regressed and because our country and the world has failed to address the issues that inspired those songs back then we’re dealing with them all over again. “Live Fast Die Young” has Morris singing about how he doesn’t want to die in a nuclear war and didn’t we think that was mostly over a remote possibility at best once the USSR fell? But instead of working to dismantle all of them the temptation to retain that power “just in case” has certain world leaders threatening nuclear destruction all over again. No real attempt to reign in the influence and power of unchecked economic influence and power? Seems “When the Shit Hits the Fan” has some choice, sardonic commentary on how people are going to have to do the best they can. Pitting the powerless against each other and then things go awry when various factions in society take things too far? “Coup D’etat” is far too real in more ways than would be fun to discuss and while not an exact analog it seems fairly poignant considering the imperial wars America engaged in beyond overthrowing democratic leaders in Latin America and the Middle East to full on occupation.

Across thirty-three songs (who counted, Morris just made some comment to this effect) the Jerks not only put forth an engaging and ferocious punk show but also demonstrated how the form of music is still a vehicle for having fun while making some of the most astute and relatable commentary on social issues and events in a way accessible and inclusive.

Circle Jerks at Ogden Theatre 3/19/22 photo by Tom Murphy

Partial set list at best and not in order:
Live Fast Die Young
Back Against the Wall
Moral Majority
Coup D’etat
World Up My Ass
When The Shit Hits the Fan
Beverly Hills
Wasted
Wild In the Streets
Junk Mail
In Your Eyes

Live Show Review: Wallice at Mission Ballroom 02/24/22

Wallice at Mission Ballroom 2/24/22 photo by Tom Murphy

About five minutes into Wallice’s set it looked like someone had passed out or otherwise fallen down near the middle of the room. But instead of letting the show go on while staff took that person to another area the band stopped to make sure the person was taken care of while urging other people present to remember to drink their water and otherwise take care of themselves. When it was determined that things were fine Wallice Watanabe and her band got back into the swing of the music.

There were people present who didn’t know who Wallice is referring to her as the “opening act.” I didn’t know that her name was pronounced with the first syllable like the word “wall” and thus the name pronounced much like “Wallace.” But these distractions and observations aside, what Wallice’s singles and creative music videos didn’t make so obvious was how the songs were written aiming for more than a bedroom pop type of thing even if many of them were probably written in that way. All the singles you might know like “23,” “Hey Michael,” “Punching Bag,” “Little League,” as well as other Off the Rails tracks, and new material were showcased and Wallice commanded the large stage of the Mission Ballroom not like it was her or that of her bandmates first time on the stage. Wearing a cowboy hat and dancing about with dramatic flair and with little in the way of a set or special lights Wallice had obvious charisma and poise. The diversity of the material has been one of the songwriter’s strong points and one of the new songs came off like some kind of post-grunge rocker more than the pop songs but it all fit in somehow. Bassist Caleb Buchanan also engaged the audience directly at times and seemed like a long time collaborator (perhaps he is) and his contributions to great recent records by Mamalarky and Pulp are proof positive that he could easily add to Wallice’s aesthetic.

Maybe most people weren’t there to see Wallice having bought tickets to the Still Woozy show but with the strength of the material and the live performance, coupled with the graceful ease and friendliness of the performers drawing you in, there’s a better than average chance that in a year or two, Watanabe and her band of that time will be headliners in their own right.

Live Show Review: Cautious Clay at Bluebird Theater 2/18/22

Cautious Clay at Bluebird Theater 02/18/22, photo by Tom Murphy

Cautious Clay brought a bit of a package tour for his performance at The Bluebird Theater no Friday, February 19, 2022. With the 2021 release of his debut full-length album Deadpan Love, Clay revealed a songwriter who has come into his own with a strong and coherent creative aesthetic that spans and transcends narrow genres and the show beginning to end broke with obvious expectations.

Julius Rodriguez at Bluebird Theater 2/18/22, photo by Tom Murphy

The opening act was Julius Rodriguez on keyboards with drummer Brian Richburg Jr and bassist Philip Norris. It was jazz in that moody yet lively mode that seemed to draw on the mid-to-late 60s NYC jazz vibe. The energy and fluidity of the ensemble felt like classic post-hard bop improv with modern sensibilities in the electronics so a blend of the classic with the accessibly avant-garde. A lot of jazz in the last 40 years is boringly academic in approach and feel but Rodriguez is not cut from that cloth, his blending of almost lounge jazz style, funk and pop was compelling and captivating the entire time his trio was on stage.

Cautious Clay took the stage with a calm and chill charisma and exuded an ease and level of comfort that also didn’t mask how happy he was to see so many people coming out to support this run of shows in Colorado where he had three dates including on in Aspen. Julius Rodriguez took the role of keyboardist, utility percussionist and second guitar. The band rounded out with a bassist, a lead guitarist and a drummer whose names I didn’t catch (sorry, guys) while Cautious Clay (Joshua Karpeh) performed on guitar, flute and saxophone as well as provided the softly yet strongly soulful vocals. Across nearly twenty songs, including the encore, the band showcased why Clay is rapidly gathering a strong fan base with many people seeming to know the words to pretty much every song.

Was the music we got to see hip-hop? Is it R&B? Is it a smooth kind of funk? Is it jazz? It’s all of that and presented in an immediately accessible way due to Clay’s charismatic and relatable energy with words that are capable of articulating challenging feelings and experiences with a rare poetic clarity without offering hackneyed premises. His stories and sentiments hit as real but manifested creatively into song. This wasn’t Clay’s first time in Denver and he related how he had played, perhaps even at the Bluebird Theater then, in 2019 and had had a good time then too and the crowd for this show was certainly enthusiastic. I had only heard the studio material prior to the show but Clay exceeded any expectations I could have had. You might have been excused for thinking he might have performed solo with tracks and maybe one other musician but this performance was proof of his ability to sync with other musicians for the kind of musical alchemy that presents as much stronger and more visceral and vibrant especially when the musicians click and Clay brought with him some people familiar with his material who swung well into the music together with a spontaneity that makes for a striking show. Also the singer’s intelligence and basic human compassion was obvious in his banter with the audience and among his bandmates which makes a subtle but important difference for any artist and how their personality connects with people as fellow humans. If Cautious Clay isn’t playing bigger rooms on his next tour it would be surprising as word gets out.

Live Show Review: The Velveteers at Gothic Theatre 11/26/21

The Velveteers at Gothic Theatre, 11/26/21, photo by Tom Murphy

It’s probably inevitable that someone in Denver music is going to think The Velveteers appeared out of nowhere with a record produced by Dan Auerbach of Black Keys. But after more than half a decade of playing house shows, DIY venues, some touring, UMS appearances, playing more commercial venues and some solid opening gigs the trio finally celebrated the release of its 2021 debut full-length Nightmare Daydream headlining a venue the size of The Gothic Theatre, a big deal for any local band.

Dreadnought at Gothic Theatre, 11/26/21, photo by Tom Murphy

I got to the Gothic too late to catch the first opening act, Highlands Ranch-based dream pop trio Dry Ice, but got there in time to see Dreadnought setting up its hefty array of gear. A mainstay of the local doom scene, Dreadnought wasted no time in delivering a catharsis of low end psychedelic drone punctuated by primal riffs and ghostly atmospheric melodies. The vocals both sublimely ritualistic in tone and tenor also engaged in a explosion of pent up emotion to accent finely crafted moments of peak mood at the apex of one of the band’s glacial builds.

Demi Demitro of The Velveteers at Gothic Theatre, 11/26/21, photo by Tom Murphy

From the backdrop with the band’s name and figures of a moon and sun with clouds and other celestial bodies flanking each side of the stage to each member of the band dressed up to take you out of mundane life for an hour and a half or so, The Velveteers prepared us for a theatrical rock show that put the focus on the music. Lead singer and guitarist Demi Demitro came out in a sequined get-up like a cross between a 70s glam rock space alien and Stevie Nicks. Jonny Fig and Baby Pottersmith dressed up like they had walked out on stage after touring in Vanilla Fudge. There was always something special about the band even when I last saw them at the UMS at the Hi-Dive in 2016 but their presence and confidence this time out, however much of an act that might be, was palpable. This was a band that had long since refined its sound and then sought out a direction for the music and its execution, honed that to a high degree, and put it on an album and brought a raw freshness to that material on stage.

Baby Pottersmith + Jonny Fig of The Velveteers at Gothic Theatre, 11/26/21, photo by Tom Murphy

If the band didn’t play all of the new record it sure felt like it covered a lot of territory playing more than twelve songs including some older material. Live the songs of course hit harder with an emotional intensity in a way that is different from the album. The album doesn’t have Demi Demitro crowd surfing a couple of times during the set while still playing guitar. The albums doesn’t have Jonny Fig staring out into the crowd with a mix of heightened focus and sheer joy, the album doesn’t include getting to see Baby Pottersmith and Fig drumming furiously and elegantly in perfect sync with each other and Demitro. Demitro’s beguiling blend of strength, vulnerability, passion and broadly nuanced vocals while captured finely on the records struck one as exhilarating as she and her bandmates moved about caught up in the moment. That much power behind lyrics that actually have meaning and point to an astute assessment of the dubious intentions of various people in one’s life and one’s own human frailties and aspirations is uncommon enough but certainly so relatively early in a band’s career. Hopefully this Gothic show in the end was both a celebration and a graduation to more than the unjustly maligned local band status.

Live Show Review: Julien Baker at The Gothic Theatre 11/13/21

Julien Baker at The Gothic Theatre 11/13/21, photo by Tom Murphy

At one point in the Julien Baker show at the Gothic Theatre, the singer and songwriter acknowledged, in her offhand, dryly humorous way, that mostly the set would consist of full band songs since she had released a full band album (Little Oblivions) earlier in the year and that it may not be for everyone but that if it was, thanks for supporting the music. Her wry and self-aware wit graced much of the show when the occasion presented itself as a kind of contrast to the intense and raw emotional territory of the music itself.

Dehd at The Gothic Theatre 11/13/21, photo by Tom Murphy

Chicago art punk band Dehd opened the show with their own brand of irreverent intensity. Drummer Eric McGrady seemed to hold the music together while Emily Kempf and Jason Balla traded off and came together with emotionally charged vocals, Kempf’s expressions both refined and eruptive, Balla’s fiery yet thoughtful. After being on the fence listening to the band’s recorded output over the last few years taking a closer listen to the band’s 2020 album Flower of Devotion and seeing the band in action made it obvious that preconceptions of where its music fits in a box are best left aside in appreciation for how its various creative impulses work together well when in the context of a live music setting.

Julien Baker has always had an uncommonly powerful voice with a widely expressive delivery as a live performer. Impossible to ignore or dismiss because her turns of phrase are often so creative and coursing with genuine feeling. Seeing these qualities in the context of the full band and an expanded sonic palette. Sure, the middle section of the show where Baker performed solo with guitar and then piano were intimate and poignant and a showcase for her immense talent as a songwriter and performer. But it felt like in some ways that not having to make all the sounds of the music happen left her free to express her feelings in an even more potent and direct way. Certainly the band rehearsed before the tour but when Baker got swept up in the moment and cried out in peak moments of soaring vocals it felt like she was really putting herself out there in a radically vulnerable, elemental way, putting her trust in the audience emotionally. And to its credit the audience responded in kind. It seemed like everyone had more than a singular moment throughout the show and Baker seemed to give voice to thoughts and feelings maybe other people don’t know how to articulate as well or as artfully with as much cathartic energy in public.

There wasn’t a lot of banter during a set of around twenty songs but when Baker did speak it was with a charmingly self-deprecating humor and a spirit of kindness that was unmistakable. Yes, Baker’s song speak to pain and suffering in a poetic yet real way, especially the songs from Little Oblivions. But always with a sense of a shared experience. When her words address or speak about someone it isn’t with a sense of spite or accusation so much as honoring the raw emotions and with an aim of understanding and processing experiences that can be incredibly uncomfortable. Her performance, as with the new album, came across as opening these moments that can get stuck in our heads with an inspiring honesty minus the cruelty that too often accompanies when people are “being real” with one another. Rather Baker showcased a way to be real and honest with compassion and kindness while also feeling in full the power and sometimes psychologically transformative experiences of those feelings.

Perhaps most telling was a moment mid-set when someone in the audience commented on one of her early songs and Baker said she wrote it when she was 18 years old in her dorm and that she hopes she has grown and developed as a person since then but that yet she feels compassion for the person she was then. There are many lessons to be learned about life over the years but that’s one that Baker learned earlier than most people and a bit of down to earth wisdom she shared without couching it as such and that spoke volumes about her approach to her music and with other people, a subtle yet strong kindness that isn’t common enough.

Live Show Review: Wolf Alice at Bluebird Theater 11/3/21

Wolf Alice at Bluebird Theater 11/3/21, photo by Tom Murphy

The Blossom at Bluebird Theater 11/3/21, photo by Tom Murphy

Opening act The Blossom was reminiscent of one of the better bands that you might have seen performing at a party or the prom in one of the better teen comedies and dramas around the turn of the century. Its pairing of pop hooks and production with indie rock riffing and attitude and expansive energy seemed a good fit for the bill. Singer Lily Lizotte brought a sunny enthusiasm to the performance that included songs like “Shapeshifter” and “Hardcore Happy” from the group’s 2021 debut EP 97 BLOSSOM.

From the moment Wolf Alice took stage, bassist Theo Ellis looked out into the crowd of the sold out show with a palpable joy. Both nights at the Bluebird had sold out, as singer Ellie Rowsell remarked upon later in the show, something that doesn’t happen much at the venue before bands end up having to play larger rooms so the next time around expect the group playing at least the Gothic or the Ogden.

Ellie Rowsell of Wolf Alice at Bluebird Theater 11/3/21, photo by Tom Murphy

With the 2021 release of , Wolf Alice revealed that it wasn’t just an able and interesting rock band, it fully demonstrated a knack for eclectic songwriting and masterful dynamics. Live, the songs helped the group’s already powerful and commanding performance style shine brighter. The impressionistic “No Hard Feelings” wherein Ellis left stage and Jeff Oddie played a hypnotically ethereal bass figure and Rowsell sang in what might be described as a soulful folk style going into the more electrifying “Visions Of A Life” is the kind of shift one might expect from someone like PJ Harvey and Wolf Alice this night was reminiscent of that artist had she brought on some shoegaze-esque soundscaping in the guitar work and synths.

Though Wolf Alice took us on what felt like a journey into intense and dramatic feelings in a kind of collective catharsis, at no point did the show drag. That happens at most shows at some time but the enthusiasm displayed by Ellis at the outset seemed to run through the band and the audience both in a synergistic dynamic. When the main set proper ended with the thoroughly enveloping and warm atmospherics of “The Last Man On Earth” punctuated by the scorching rocker “Moaning Lisa Smile” you’d have to be more than a little dead inside to not think you just got to see one of the greatest live rock bands operating today making music that isn’t beholden to some trendy style, rather, having established one of its own.

Live Show Review: itchy-O at Summit Music Hall 10/30/21

itchy-O at Summit Music Hall, photo by Tom Murphy

Xordox at Summit Music Hall, photo by Tom Murphy

When Xordox took stage the duo including J.G. Thirlwell looked like space mystics from a post-Solaris society with lights on their headsets and wearing pendants with symbols that seemed to have a significance for the performance ahead. A backdrop of abstract, evolving projections provided an unconventional grounding to melodic synth compositions that gave a sense of a mysterious future. Tonal sequences and distorted, flaring drones over inexorably flowing beats and rhythms captured that feeling you got from some of the more presciently utopian and dystopia science fiction movies from the 80s where bright sounds were often paired with dark themes. “Between Dimensions” from Xordox’s 2021 album Omniverse had one wondering if the robotic voice was a clear nod to early 80s hip-hop and its taking inspiration from Kraftwerk but that and the rest of the performance was a bubble of the otherworldly before the grand ritual of itchy-O’s set started.

J.G. Thirlwell of Xordox at Summit Music Hall, photo by Tom Murphy

Between the drum corps and the taiko crew set up on and in front of the main stage and a more electronic cadre set up opposite the stage near the sound booth, itchy-O established a sense of space beyond the confines of the venue. In the band’s earliest days and through the mid-2010s the sheer physicality of the band in small spaces and larger places was an undeniable presence that in all its moving parts created a raw and chaotic energy even though the songs were written ahead of time and heavily rehearsed. It always felt like it could go off the rails even as it operated with great cohesion. Sometime between then and now the band has streamlined its performance. The set list felt sequenced in a way to orchestrate the tonal and rhythmic nuances so that the energy never dropped off. Sure the bombast of earlier shows was there but what might be considered by many to be a gimmick wears thin but the flow of the show now seems to reflect the ways itchy-O’s albums worked as a listening experience. The seamless integration of both approaches to executing the music in studio as worked out in rehearsals and composed outside of those and the live show appears to be complete. A listen to the newly released album SYPHERLOT & HALLOWMASS DOUBLE LIVE 2020 (out now on Alternative Tentacles) hints at this reality though thoroughly enjoyable on its own.

The two poles of command at the concert established an unspoken creative tension that reconciled and then parted again throughout the evening. The “creeps” that once most often mingled in the crowd also acted as living dramatic props at points in the show as when the speaker read from the book and appeared to criticize its contents as if to suggest that at some point you have to go beyond the rules, beyond established and entrenched authority to grow as a person and as a group. The clawed hands raised around him made it look like some Lovecraftian cult but one more benevolent and more keyed into the dark mysticism of the collective unconscious. One of the creeps did some riding of the crowd across the room while the two lion’s prowled playfully about. Whereas in some older shows the appearance of Larry the Lion could bring some pause to the forward motion of the event, nothing really diverted attention and all components seemed in sync and keeping the audience engaged beginning to end. If the live album is a marker in the life of a band, this show was a display of the lessons of focus and intentionality that the preparations for those shows necessitated and a clear signal that itchy-O has much more to offer with creativity in presentation of its art and the music that drives its expression.

Live Show: cleopatrick at Bluebird Theater, 10/11/21

cleopatrick at Bluebird Theater, 10/11/21, photo by Tom Murphy

The Jonathan Glazer-esque music videos for cleopatrick’s songs certainly suggested there was more to the band than a casual listen to its debut full-length BUMMER made obvious—a depth and exorcism of personal darkness and angst in the storytelling. On this cold night before the first freezes of the year since winter hit Denver the live band provided a personal warmth that contrasted a bit with the timbre of some of the music. The scorching and pile-driver cadence guitar work and percussion combined with introspective passages and what proved to be a vulnerability mixed in with the dynamic aggression of much of the performance. In moments Luke Gruntz’s vocals hit your ears like Josh Homme and the informal arrangements of the songs reminiscent of Queens of the Stone Age but more fuzzy and raw.

What was not at all obvious from the album, though there are elements of musique concrète at the end of songs and of course the track “Ya,” was how the band deployed ambient soundscapes between songs whether processed beats from Ian Fraser or delay manipulation from Gruntz’s guitar or pre-recorded keyboard atmospheres and the like. It showcased how sure this is amped up rock music but some of the sensibility and attitude is out of hip-hop and electronic music, even the way the songs are arranged. For various songs Gruntz’s vocal cadence is borderline spoken word but more akin to rapping. The hybrid style reminded me of early Kasabian where grimy, psychedelic post-punk and electronic music melded together seamlessly.

“Victoria Park” hit hard and the visceral motion of Gruntz and Fraser seemed to be working in perfect lock step while exuding an eruptive spontaneity, the music seeming to burst from inside them yet orchestrated for all involved in the show to get swept up in the momentum. “Family Van” provided surprisingly nuanced moments of nearly unhinged energy and tenderness as a way of coping with strong, mixed emotions and memories of desperate times. “2008” was a calm moment amidst a maelstrom of activity and sounds. At one point Fraser introduced a song with hits on a drum pad to create a resounding low end bass tone riff that gave a soundscape the likes you might more likely hear at an EDM or deep house show. It was just not just some neo-grunge thing, not a rap rock show or try hard eclecticism. It wasn’t a macho display of aggression though it was an expression of a release of frustration in a way that was easy to relate to, especially these days with collective anxiety at a high state. In fact, during one song some people were getting a little too rowdy with moshing and Gruntz asked if people could chill it with that and jump up and down. Which is the original punk way and although cleopatrick seem to have created a soundtrack for primal release of tension, it was not one that lacked for the recognition of the frailty and humanity of others as the band’s lyrics make abundantly clear if you take the time to read them.

Toward the end of the set, Gruntz told the audience that normally he and Fraser would meet people after the show and sign records but with the pandemic still raging and a long tour ahead they had pre-signed a bunch of vinyl. And he was good to his word as seen below adding another reason to like this Canadian duo beyond just the music.

Live Show Review: Japanese Breakfast at Ogden Theatre, 10/8/21

Japanese Breakfast at Ogden Theatre, 10/8/21, photo by Tom Murphy

For the first tour since the 2020 pandemic lockdown, Japanese Breakfast performed as though that downtime spent not being able to operate as usual as a band incubating the new material and developing a live show that felt somehow both spontaneous and refined. As someone who hadn’t seen the band since 2016 at Larimer Lounge the tasteful yet robust light show simply enhanced the impact of the band’s already evocative songwriting.

Luni Li at Ogden Theatre, 10/8/21, photo by Tom Murphy

The show started off with opener Luni Li. The Toronto, Ontario-based songwriter brought her eclectic style of pop that sounded as rooted in 90s R&B and smooth jazz as 2000s indie rock. But just when you thought you had her sound figured out the singer/guitarist would lay out some superb display of guitar or violin prowess showing that sure she could write pleasant, tuneful songs imbued with her charming stage presence but she also had chops that could add that dimension to the music. She recounted to us how she had looked up to Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast because for maybe the first time in her life she saw someone who also had Korean ancestry represented in the realm of music she might aspire to join. Li had written some demos of instrumentals in the early part of 2021 that she shared a bit of with us with the full band that brought to full bloom other songs like the ethereally gorgeous “Afterglow.”

As a six-piece for this show, Japanese Breakfast utilized the large stage of The Ogden well with back lighting as circles or spheres upon which colors and patterns were projected along with streaming and sweeping lights from above to create a palpable ambiance and an intimate mood befitting the vulnerable energy of the music. Sure, the first two Japanese Breakfast albums were written in the wake of deeply painful experiences and processing the intense emotions related to them in a way that didn’t leave one in a state of dissociation. Much of the set list was drawn from the 2021 album Jubilee, as one might hope, and the older songs took on a similar emotional timbre. That is to say, and perhaps projecting a bit here, a tentative embrace of those things in life that brighten your lived experience after a long period of feeling under a cloud of a necessary and natural time of having your head and heart in a space where your joy and other positive emotions can feel alternately muted and amplified, your negative emotions similarly outsized. The songs of Jubilee felt like an attempt to find a healthy balance without going toxically posi and pretending everything’s cool just because you want it to be especially after a year and a half of some of the most confusing times in the country’s history both in terms of the impact of the pandemic and the seemingly endless string of crises brought on by political and cultural turmoil that are impossible to ignore. Like most of us, Zauner and the band intuited that living in that existential zone is unsustainable even when caution is still necessary and there is so much work left to do. And one way to break that emotional and spiritual stasis is to make creative work looking to an inevitable and hopefully better future rather than stay focused on the worst possibilities.

Beginning with one of Jubilee’s introductory song, and one of Japanese Breakfast’s most immediately catchy and appealing, “Paprika,” brought us along on a journey of deep emotional honesty that is the hallmark of Zauner’s songwriting. From the emotionally complex “Be Sweet” to the poignant “Kokomo, IN” in the first third of the set we experienced a gentle and vibrant side to the newer material. The cover of Dolly Parton’s classic “Here You Come Again” seemed a perfect fit for the way Zauner sings about love and relationships as never simple and never the cliché of love solving all your problems and that the falling in love is pretty much never happiness ever after and that it often simply doesn’t work out and not often too catastrophically but in the regular, everyday way that our failings and our adherence to outmoded personal narratives can create conflict and disappointing experiences without our intending them to be. Certainly following up the Parton song with “Boyish” and “The Body is a Blade” solidified Zauner’s gift for articulating these multi-layered human experiences and emotions with a poetic economy.

In the final third of the set proper, Japanese Breakfast treated us to a bit of Zauner’s soundtrack to the video game Sable and the track “Glider” and ending with a a rousing yet somehow wry rendition of the great Psychopomp track “Everybody Wants To Love You.” But it was an early night and though having already played fifteen songs, Zauner and her bandmates returned for an encore closing the night with one of the band’s greatest songs, the psychedelic, space rock, cool jazz celebratory anthem “Diving Woman.” That song from Soft Sounds from Another Planet struck one before and seemed this night a peek into the next chapter for people who have been through a long period of feeling like everything has been oppressive and tentative and maybe forward motion, however cautious we must be, is possible.