Elaborate Designs

Bell @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 12/8/2008 (Gummy Awards)

Housefire / Echinacea / Brown Bear / The Miner / New Bridge / Suerte Loca / Hero

Bell “Brown Bear”

The latest incarnation of Olga Bell’s live band entirely omits guitar and bass, and emphasizes rhythm and electronic instrumentation. Whereas the guitars thickened her songs and maximized the impact of their most dramatic moments, her frequent collaborators Jason Nazary and Gunnar Olsen loosen up the material with nimble percussion and generally more nuanced accompaniment. Both approaches have their merits — certainly, the versions from earlier in the year had a greater appeal for mainstream and rock fans — but this current take seems more true to the spirit of Olga and her general aesthetic. “Echinacea” and “Brown Bear” came off especially well with the new arrangements, as the players were better able to capture the weightless feeling essential to the compositions.

Nevertheless, as astonishing as Olga and her band can be, some of the music can still seem like a work in progress, primarily due to the impression that they are overthinking and over-arranging the songs. In the case of “Housefire” and “The Miner,” strong melodic parts were altered somewhat or avoided entirely, as if to deliberately tone down their emotional weight. The arrangement of “Hero” smothered its simple, affecting melody beneath far too many elements, and sort of begged to be pared down to essentials. Also, despite being blessed with a lovely, expressive, and technically proficient voice, Olga has a tendency to lean too hard on electronic vocal effects. The effects can work quite well, but ought to be employed in moderation.

Also, if you were wondering: Yes, it’s very difficult for me to hear the song “New Bridge” without thinking of the Best Show on WFMU.

Buy it from Bell.

Deerhunter @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 12/8/2008 (Gummy Awards)

Cryptograms / Never Stops / Dr. Glass / Hazel Street / Nothing Ever Happened / Saved By Old Times / Octet / Microcastle / Vox Celeste / Operation / Twilight at Carbon Lake // Cover Me Slowly / Agoraphobia / Strange Lights

These guys again, right? I don’t know how they do it, but each show I see Deerhunter play is about 20% better than the one previous. I imagine the actual quality of this performance was not enormously different from the one that I saw last month, but the Music Hall has far better sound than the Bowery Ballroom, and Bradford Cox was in an especially silly mood, so that kinda puts it over. Also, this show included “Saved By Old Times”!

Deerhunter “Saved By Old Times (Platts Eyott Session)”

I find myself to be consistently moved by the phrase “Saved By Old Times” as Bradford sings it in the song, even if there’s more than a little ambiguity to what it means in and out of context. I mostly interpret the line as a way of expressing the comfort and consolation of connecting with the art of another era. As in, you may be dissatisfied with the present tense for any variety of reasons, but inspiration from the past can be a guide to working your way into the future. In this way, it’s like a mission statement for the band — pull what you can from the old times, but keep moving forward.

Buy it from Amazon.