Play It Sam

On Thursday, I went to The Paradise Theatre for my first musical event there. Since its renovation, The Paradise is hosting live shows as well as movies. To accommodate this, the first few rows of seats were retracted into the floor leaving standing room for attendees. But tonight, no one took advantage of that space to be up close to the stage until the end. Likely most were reticent to block the views of those seated in the front rows.

The sound quality of this venue was excellent. But it sounded like the technicians limited the music to the two small line array speakers above the stage and some front speakers instead of using all the speakers in the theatre. All the bands tonight benefited from the clear sound mix.

High-schoolers Pascal and Brighide of Moscow Apartment started the first set. Some audience members expressed surprise that such young performers displayed both maturity and musical chops on songs like Be You, Two-timer, Meredith Palmer, and Orange. Their line-up tonight included a female drummer making for all awesome all-women band. They were the only act that engaged cheerfully with the crowd beyond a few mumbles.

I was worried that Bernice would be too quirky and experimental tonight. But their new songs from an upcoming album (Groovelation, Lone Swan, Personal Bubble, We Choose You) straddled nicely the line between accessible groove and strange electronica. Robin Dann's evocative vocals and lyrics were a highlight but the various bloops and bleeps were too loud and unbalanced. I'm not sure if it was the sound tech or the musicians, but what should have been a melodious soundscape was occasionally jarring and unpleasant.

I have only seen Twist in various small venues with poor sound. So I have never been too taken with their music. But tonight's excellent sound gave shape to their jangly indie rock with a hint of California vibe. Propulsive drums and bass guitar, accompanied by shimmery guitars, supported Laura Hermiston's reverb-heavy vocals. They could rock too as their last few numbers including closer Waves finally got some folks out of their seat to dance up front at the stage.