Show Review: Twin Shadow @ Emo’s (6/22)

Why? All I can do is ask why.

Twin Shadow was on my list of best shows last year. It was a sold out two night stand at The Mohawk. Confess had all the buzz in the world behind it. Fast forward to last Saturday and a group of about 1200 fans gathered to get another dose of George still touring on the strength of Forget and Confess. Unfortunately, this iteration won’t make my list of best shows. The band sounded amazing, but the lighting that must have seemed like a good idea at the time, just killed it for me (and not just because I take the photos).

Read on for thoughts on a surprising Elliphant and peep the pics of Twin Shadow in Projector Land…

So when I did the show preview, I checked out a couple Elliphant‘s popular tracks on soundcloud. It was categorically perfect Swedish synth pop. So, when Ellinor Olovsdotter took the stage to bombed out dancehall rap, we all kind of puzzed – puzzed and puzzed until we had to take to wiki’s and facebook entries to figure out what was up. It turns out she had fallen in love with “urban music sounds of London”. It wasn’t until the end that we were treated to a little bit of what I had expected, George joining here on stage for a bit of “Down On Life”. The only other interesting observation is that no matter how “street”, Swedish artists just always sound awkward swearing in English. Might be the cadence.

Twin Shadow took to the stage, each member with a projector in front of the area of the stage. I figured it would be tough but rewarding three songs form the pit, patterns and colors bathing the band. Nah, just patterns, black and white patterns, intricate patterns, moving and swirling. It sucked. Not just as a photographer, but IMHO as an audience member. I remember the crowd interaction, the smiles flashed and the guitar gymnastics from The Mohawk. All of these things were now buried in geometry flying about matching trench coats. I wasn’t even sure if the bass player guy had a head until the third song. It was disconnected.

They sounded great. It was a fantastic batch of songs. But the “lighting” ruined the show. Fill light, George, fill light…

More pics at the photo site…