With the Halt Bar Hijack just along the road the area is jam packed with live music fans. This hands the perfect scenario to much hyped avant-garde musician Ariel Pink to play his own set just a skip away at the Captain’s Rest.
Many have taken a quick time out from the Hijack to catch the LA based act, with his band Haunted Graffiti. As a result the show is sold out very quickly and we find the tiny basement of the Rest once again at it’s sweaty best by the time the headliners come on.
Before the venue gets packed to the brims we are treated to a couple of local acts to get the early comers warmed up. First on are We’re Only Afraid Of NYC, who’s alternative indie borders on the expansive without really breaking any barriers.
Next are the more interesting, yet not as well received, Paws who up the energy and the volume with a number of powerful punk enthused alternative tracks.
The one trouble with a packed Captain’s Rest, aside the intense heat, is vision, if you aren’t near the front you aren’t going to see very much. So, with having to guess what the band looks like your ears are left to do the judging.
With agitation building in the crowd, as the Graffiti take a good time fidgeting with equipment, the band finally fire into their set, opening with the funky ‘Don’t Think Twice (Love)’ from Ariel’s 2004 debut Doldrums. The track’s grooved up bassline coupled with Ariel’s obscure yet impressive vocal changes, switching from a high squeal to a deep boom and everywhere in between, provide an ideal start.
The Graffiti’s latest release, Before Today, has been receiving much hype all over the music press and with it only out a week many tonight are here to see what it can offer in a live environment.
The flowing dreamy pop tones of 60s garage cover ‘Bright Lit Blue Skies’ is the first chance we get to sample the new material and it does not let down. The soaring beautiful chorus drags the listener in and as Ariel sticks to one vocal pattern it gives a nice coherence not found in much of their older material.
Indeed it is Ariel’s vocals that many will raise a question over, the constant changing and sometimes odd positions of his voice can occasionally come across as grating.
However, these eccentrics, love them or hate them, are tied down more of the new release and as a result the band have found their feet commercially. Still, a vast amount of the set is built up of old material and some who have only heard the new release will struggle to accept the more taxing material.
Closing, before a relatively pointless encore, on their hit of the minute ‘Round and Round’ the Graffiti reach the peak of their set. The single has become an indie centerpiece for 2010 and best signifies the band’s move form psychedelic awkwardness to dream filled pop bliss.
Ariel Pink appears to be gradually moving away from his past musical haunts, and while live he still clings to the past, there is still quality here in abundance. Finishing just in time for a run back along to the Halt to catch Holy Mountain and Eternal Fags, the Graffiti provide a perfect pop injection to a damp Sunday evening.
Photograph: Sam Fenn
