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Timesbold (USA)
04/11/05
AB, Brussels
One of those "could've been…"-nights.
The past few days, the AB-venue in Brussels has been the location of the annual Domino-festival, which intends to "surf the exciting margin of adventurous pop music." In the past, this already led to memorable concerts by cult favorites Lambchop, GYBE! and Mum, and also this year seemed a promising edition, with concerts by New Weird Folk-princess Joanna Newsom, avant veterans Einstürzende Neubauten, drone-doom monks Sunno))) and more accessible acts such as Broken Social Scene's Feist, Hood and current critic's pet and DFA-offspring, LCD Soundsystem. Because average people can only check out so many concerts with a limited budget, I preferred to check out Timesbold, as Eye Eye had recently struck me as a particularly impressive album and their concert at the 4AD venue a few weeks earlier was supposed to be quite fantastic (hearsay and all that). I succeeded to miss bright new star Patrick Wolf and half of Monade's set, although I have no regrets about that last part, as the band - a "hobby project" of Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier - introduced me to levels of indifference I didn't even know existed. Coming off like a slightly more continental Stereolab covering Yo La Tengo-tunes, the band's shoegazing retro-lounge never managed to help me out of my catatonic state. Clumsy, off-key and annoyingly apathetic, it was an example of anti-rock 'n' roll at its most unexciting. Blergh.
Like their American brethren of My Morning Jacket, Will Oldham and South San Gabriel, Timesbold is one of those bands that seem to get more recognition in Western Europe (and particularly in the Benelux) than in their own backyard. Even though you could lump 'em in with the thousands of other contemporary Americana acts, their loyal fan base seems the result of their unwillingness to be pigeonholed (which, ironically has them often mentioned in one and the same sentence by critics drooling over every new release by any of these artists), a kind of "European" sensibility that's a long way from the homely cosiness of many traditional artists from the Bible Belt, and probably a disgust for the grotesque nature of a large part of the American music industry. Anyway, Timesbold had already been touring these parts for a few weeks, so nothing could prevent this set from becoming an awe-inspiring performance from a well-oiled band that would have to do its uttermost to receive any bad feedback. It did start off in a promising way with "Gin I Win" from their eponymous debut and the heartbreakingly fragile "Lorili" from the band's first EP Woe be Gone, but then a technical problem with a harp emerged. The band tried to solve it in a forced way, which was also special to witness, as Max Lichtenstein's undiminished enthusiasm formed a nice contrast to the rest of the band's confusion and visibly fading fervour. Unfortunately it also robbed the performance of its rhythm and sense of direction - something the band couldn't make up for anymore. Quite remarkably, the band stuck to its earlier releases for a while as two more songs were picked from the EP ("This Field Needs a Reaper," "Evil"), before it played the desolate soundscape of Eye Eye's " All Blues." It has to be said that Jason Merritt's fragile voice sounded fine. It's the modern equivalent of Neil Young's sob or Oldham's nearly off-key moan, yet it rarely misses its effect, certainly because the singer kept on staring into the distance with an intensity that would scare off children and most sensitive grown-ups. The musicianship was pretty good, even though the balance could've been a bit better (blame the sound guys) and the playing could've done with a bit more tightness. "Bone Song" managed to become a highlight, even though it lacked the cinematic breadth of the studio version, and an up-tempo (finally!!) "Wings on a Girl" managed to re-awaken my initial satisfaction, but then the set already came to a premature end with "Knowwhere." It wasn't a bad concert by any means, but it was a frustrating one, because you knew these guys can do much better, because you saw they knew it as well, and also because a few unfortunate problems (and perhaps a set list that could've used a bit more muscle in the first half) ensured they never really transcended the "rehearsal with an audience"-vibe.
I didn't stay for Efterklang's set.
Read album reviews of similar or related artists: Timesbold Album Reviews