Live Log 2023: Engaged And Rearranged
Recent concerts found Mutual Benefit, Tomberlin, and AndPlay expanding their sound
Note: This will be the last “regular” review of 2023 as we enter the season of list-making. Keep an eye on my socials to see what shows close out the year!
Three recent concerts demonstrated the endless mutability of great music via reimagined instrumental settings.
Mutual Benefit with Carmen Q. Rothwell
TV Eye, Ridgewood, Queens
November 14, 2023
When I saw Mutual Benefit, the indie-chamber-folk project of Jordan Lee, for an in-store appearance at Rough Trade upon the release of Growing At The Edges in October, he was performing with a stripped-down quartet. Playing guitar or a small keyboard and accompanied by Gabriel Birnbaum on sax, Hannah Pruzinski on vocals, and another guitarist, it was a quiet introduction to songs from his latest album in a live setting.
But to give the album release the true fanfare it deserved, Lee had other ideas, which he realized to a packed house at TV Eye. Adding to the milestone of the new album was the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Love’s Crushing Diamond, which he planned to commemorate with an enlarged band including a string quartet. When I ran into Lee before the show, he confessed to feeling over his head with so many people involved. But Lee is such an authentic, present performer that I had full confidence that whatever happened it would be just right even if not precisely as planned.
Soon enough, Pruzinski walked in with Felix Walworth, the artist behind Told Slant and a member of Florist, where he has proved himself to be one of the most emotionally connected drummers working today. Having them involved only increased my confidence in Lee’s conception.
First up was Carmen Q. Rothwell, who plays bass in many jazz-adjacent ensembles around town, most notably in Tilt, Scree, and Citrine, but was here performing solo, building up patterns on her double-bass and singing. It was captivating and also worked well when accompanied by a guitarist. Rothwell’s music reminded me slightly of Meaner Pencil, the project of Lenna Pierce, who did something similar on cello years ago, and I’m glad to have her on my radar.
Once TV Eye’s signature red curtain reopened, Lee was at center stage behind a large keyboard, with Walworth behind him and flanked by the string quartet on one side and Birnbaum, Pruzinski, a guitarist (Justin Randall?) and a bassist. The reflective introduction to Growing At The Edges soon filled the space and we were free to lose ourselves in what I already felt was one of the best albums of 2023. The concentration and absorption of all those on stage, with Lee conducting via nods of the head, mirrored my own as I marveled at seeing this beautiful music assemble itself right in front of me.
In between songs, Lee was a jocular presence, at one point dedicating a song to his father and saying, “I hope I got the chords right, dad,” like a snarky teen. He introduced the alternately breezy and swoon-worthy Untying A Knot by noting, “A lot of people seem to like this song, at least according to Spotify,” hinting at the oddity of the granular data musicians receive in this day and age. You can hear the audience chuckling at the start of the clip below. Of course I take full credit, having featured the song on my podcast!
After playing the album, the curtain closed again so they could reset the stage, returning with a slightly smaller lineup to perform Love’s Crushing Diamond. Having originally heard these songs live years ago and lived with them on the record, I was not surprised at how great they still sounded. It was interesting how the even richer sounds of the new album informed the older songs, however, with a slight reduction in intensity balanced by a greater confidence in quietude. The Mutual Benefit catalog is a treasure trove of song, with melodies and lyrics durable enough to welcome many interpretations. Hearing both these albums, along with a few requests from the audience, such as Fire Escape from Skip A Sinking Stone (2016), was a marvelous opportunity to look back at Lee’s achievement over the last decade and sent us out into the Ridgewood night as if on a cloud of contentment.
Watch Advanced Falconry below and make sure to get tickets for either the EU & UK tour or upcoming US dates so you, too, can experience these glories.
Tomberlin with Dear Nora
Murmrr Ballroom, Brooklyn
December 2, 2023
I’ll leave it to others to determine if I’m father of the century, the decade, the year, or even the week - but surely in my favor is the fact that I’ve raised a daughter who gave me a ticket to see Tomberlin at Murmrr for my birthday. [My son gave me a nicely-framed Vermeer print from the Frick, so there’s that, too!] Sarah Beth Tomberlin has long been a favorite for both of us and seeing her open for John Cale over the summer only left us wanting more. And this concert, apparently ending the cycle based on her last album, 2022’s I Don’t Know Who Needs To Hear This, was everything we could have hoped for.
It was our first time at Murmrr, a performance venue inside a nearly century-old temple across from the Brooklyn Public Library. In the shadows of the Ballroom, we could see signs of renovation in progress, but it was still a welcoming space. Tomberlin had set up seating on three sides of an old rug, with spots for all the musicians except the drummer, whose kit was up on the stage. This gave the show an intimate feeling, starting with the opening set by Dear Nora, which in this case consisted only of Katy Davidson, the primary member of this long-running - but as yet unknown to me - indie band.
With their tart, clipped, and expert guitar playing accompanying their warm vocals, Davidson gave a good overview of their style, which ranged from reflective folk rock to angular post-punk. I’m glad to have made Dear Nora’s acquaintance and I’m sure I would have had something to say about last year’s Human Futures, their second album after returning to active duty in 2018 (and fifth overall), had I heard it. In a nice moment near the end of the set, Greta Kline from Frankie Cosmos joined in on backing vocals, making a connection between her own quirky style and the influence Dear Nora might have had on it.
Soon, Tomberlin and her musicians assembled on the carpet. The core of bassist Frank Meadows and drummer Josh Yeager were back, joined by Adelyn Strei (flute, clarinet, guitar, vocals), David Cieri (piano), and a pedal steel/violin player whose name I didn’t catch. One thing that distinguished IDKWNTHT was the expansive instrumentation and the way every element was so carefully placed in the sonic field, creating gorgeously immersive frames for Tomberlin’s exquisitely-crafted, emotion-suffused songs.
The performance had the same feeling, with each musician adding perfect touches that also seemed perfectly spontaneous. When I ran into Meadows a few days later (see below) he confirmed that Tomberlin is very clear on what she wants but confident enough to let the musicians she chooses find their way there. The bassist also told me that the setup, with everyone on the floor except the drummer, broke a lot of technical rules but turned out to be good for the band, even if it took a little get used to.
Cieri, who was a bit of a ringer on IDK, seemed to enjoy playing the wild-card role, using silence as a brush as often as a splashy chord or a melodic tinkle. Tomberlin herself led the band, either strumming a fuzzed out electric guitar, heavy on the reverb, or with the delicate strength of her fingerpicked acoustic. Her voice was absolutely gorgeous, too, her use of restraint giving the more full-throated or long-held notes more impact.
Like Jordan Lee, Tomberlin was also witty in between songs and disarmingly honest, telling us how nervous she was. I was thinking, why are you nervous here? These people gathered to see you, rather than wondering how long your set will take before they can see Cale! But maybe it’s because she cares more about the experience of true fans, of which there were many, including a man I initially thought might be her grandfather who yelled out at one point, “Sarah Beth, you’ve grown so much as a performer!”
it was just a beautiful night all around, including the bargain she struck up with us that she would only perform IDK’s title track if we sang along. And so we did, leaving us with a warm feeling that did not dissipate during the long journey home. Watch Tap below and see if it does the same for you.
AndPlay with Madison Greenstone
The Dimenna Center, NYC
December 8, 2023
Unlike Mutual Benefit, the violin-viola duo of Hannah Levinson and Maya Bennardo celebrated the release of their latest album, Translucent Harmonies, by not playing it, at least not exactly.
But first there was an opening set by Madison Greenstone, one of the founding members of Tak Ensemble, who themself has a recent release of solo explorations for Bb clarinet to celebrate. Having heard the album, I had some idea of what to expect. But it was still surprising how loud it was when Greenstone put the reed to their lips, puffed out their cheeks, and began to blow. The sound instantly filled the large, wood-lined Mary Flagler Cary Hall as well as my head. As it would make little sense to describe the structure of what followed, here are some in the moment impressions:
A single note is never a single sound when pushed through reed and wood.
The sounds seems to change form, from narrow, wiry expulsions to something flat, even if only for a second.
When the fingers start flying…wow! All kinds of overtones and overlaps, almost electronic in nature.
There was a long section about quiet, with just the barest of breaths passing through there instrument, riding the line between white noise and a musical note. It was meditative and somehow vast.
Eventually, the volume increased again, including some guttural transitions that pushed the boundaries further. As did the whole piece!
Greenstone calls these pieces Resonance Studies In Ecstatic Consciousness, evoking both the scientific method and a spiritual practice, which seems exactly right.
Levinson introduced AndPlay’s set by noting that Translucent Harmonies was based on a concert originally played in 2018, which led them to decide to give us something new yet related to the music on the album.
First up were two premiere performances of works by Swedish composer Kristofer Svensson, whose piece, Vid Stenmuren Blir Tanken Blomma, is the second track on the record. Both Ljusomflutna, Sakta Vindar (2022) and I Den Gyllne Luften (2019) come from a similar place as that work, taking advantage of the abilities of string instruments to unspool long, glassy, uninterrupted notes, with near-melodies appearing in the spaces where the notes overlapped.
When you use very few notes, as Svensson does, every change becomes incredibly important, and by slowing down to join the rhythm of the pieces I found myself eagerly anticipating each change as if waiting for my favorite part of a song. Speaking of song, as I noted on my podcast when sharing Translucent Harmonies, there is a folk-like warmth and simplicity to Svensson’s music that is very welcoming even as it stretches the limits of your attention.
After the Svensson, we were treated to an expanded version of the ensemble version of Catherine Lamb's Prisma Interius VIII, which appears on the album in duo form. As the additional musicians took their places, Bennardo cracked that “People always ask if Maya and I are in a duo because we’re in a failed quartet…the answer is never yes!” She then went on to say that recently they’ve liked playing with more people, in this case including Thea Mesirow (cello), Tristan Kasten-Krause (bass), and David Adamcyk and Corie Rose Soumah (rainbow synthesizers). Here are some notes about what transpired over the next 20+ minutes.
Begins with a series of simple interleaving notes, but gradually acquires a cloud-like, shimmering quality. Some of that is from the synths, which live-sample the instruments and put their sounds back out in altered form, but also from the harmonics and intervals produced by the string quartet.
As the chord changes begin increasing in frequency, the synths grow more present and even active, clusters of sound occasionally popping up in the background.
Compared to Svensson, Lamb’s sound world - even with the additional instruments and higher rate of activity - is a chilly one at times. Intriguingly, as more notes from the lower end of the staff enter the picture, including a brief yet powerful thrum on an open bass string, there’s a sense of warming, bringing the piece to a satisfying conclusion.
After the piece ended, I found myself in a small group chatting with Kasten-Krause, mostly centered on that open bass thrum, which was cataclysmic enough in context that a fellow audience member wondered if a subway was going by underground. That turned out to be Frank Meadows, which is how we got talking about the Tomberlin concert. He was glad - as I was - that there was at least one other person at both shows. Even a community of two is a community, which is one thing we seek at live concerts, alongside the astonishing and inventively performed music. Hope to see you out there soon.
Speaking of live music, have you watched 20 Live Albums That Are FUN To Have On Vinyl yet?
From the archives:
Live Log 2023: AndPlay’s Poems For Spring
The Best Of 2022 (So Far)
The Best Of 2016 (So Far), Pt. 1