| Amy!Pop Lucky Cat Cafe, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York March 13, 2004 |
According to the advertisement for tonight’s show, Amy!Pop plays “live band renditions of material originally composed on toy keyboards.” I’m expecting “ironically bad” performance art—off-key vocals, sloppy musicianship and a general aura of “we’re FAR too hip to actually practice our craft.” If you’ve ever attended a performance in Williamsburg... or any other town with a thriving art scene ... you know exactly what I’m talking about. Still, a reviewer should put aside his preconceptions. Besides, DogsBlood promoter Angel says Amy is a fantastic songwriter, and Angel generally has great taste in music. Sipping my coffee, I wait for the band to set up and try hard to put myself into Appropriately Openminded Reviewer Headspace. The opening, “weatherman,” sends my prejudices sailing out the window. Many bands today try to evoke the “synthpop” sound of the mid-80s. Amy!Pop is going back a couple years earlier, to the halcyon days of New Wave. New Wave began as a reaction against the flash pots and overblown cheesiness which characterized much late 70s “arena rock” and “progressive rock.” Amy!Pop has captured that stripped-down, hard-edged, angular sound. Amy’s bass player provides a chugging straightforward rhythm, while guitarist Jordan Hadley, keyboardist Sam Bland and backing vocalist Jamie Lou provide simple but tasty filler riffs. As they begin “little prince,” I understand the logic behind Amy’s toy keyboards. Working with toy keyboards forces the composer to simplify, simplify, simplify. She creates a basic hook, then builds a basic tune around it. In the best New Wave tradition, her songs are short, no more than 2 or 3 minutes each. There’s barely time to enjoy one before another is on its way. Many New Wave acts featured high-voltage, histrionic singers: Amy eschews this approach, preferring an almost glacial cool. If Romeo Void’s Deborah Iyall and Pylon’s Vanessa Briscoe-Hay were Bette Davis in “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane,” Amy is Greta Garbo in “Queen Christina.” This approach makes “oui oui non non” one of the evening’s highlights. Much as Garbo kept her face blank during Queen Christina’s final scene and allowed the audience to read whatever they liked into her expression, Amy gives us a deadpan tale of someone she “can’t get out of [her] head.” The song gains its power from the things which remain unspoken: a sweet cookie of a song that evokes a Remembrance of Things That Might Have Been. They may need a bit more rehearsal as a band. While they’re all competent musicians individually they haven’t quite jelled as a unit. Because New Wave music is so stripped down, but it demands razor-sharp precision from the band... the kind of precision that only comes from playing together over and over again. Replacing the drum machine with a live drummer would add a great deal of power to the songs; I’d also like to see Amy gain a bit more confidence in her voice and learn to project a bit more. Still, Amy!Pop has a great deal of potential... and gave me a pleasant surprise. They’re worth seeing right now, and should only improve as time goes on. SONG LIST: BAND: Dogs Blood Rising |