Concert Review: The Sounds (@ the Double Door)

I don't know how many of you readers know this, but for the longest time one of my 'Out of This World, Will Never Happen' crushes has been Maja Ivarsson of Swedish new wave band The Sounds:



In any case, it certainly hasn't hurt Maja's case that I've dug the Sounds' music for quite some time. For those unfamiliar, they sing that "Hurt You" song that's featured on the Geico caveman commercial. They also sing some other songs you'd most likely regard as familiar. Here's their myspace page.

In any case, a month or so ago I found out they were playing the Double Door and got tickets. I went with Gower and another of our friends; two key statistics about the crowd:

- 70% hipster
- 70% female

Before I describe the performance, let me put in a word about the opening act, Hey Champ:

This band kicks ass. Their music is original and their performance is nonpareil. They're tightly (without seeming programmed) and have a wonderful flair for the causally dramatic. Additionally, there's a sense of fun & rhetorical flourish about their act and the drummer fucking rocks. I can't say enough about them, except that they're playing the Empty Bottle on May 16th.

Now, on to the main event. To cut directly to the chase, I have to say I was somewhat underwhelmed by the Sounds, but their performance was understandable to me. Technically, the music was very tight, and the way the band replicated their CD sound was extremely impressive, superior to what I would have expected from a tech-y newwave band (especially one from Sweden). The problem was, though, that The Sounds seem to no longer be a club band, they're an arena band now. The interplay between the band members was pretty clearly rehearsed and the stage act felt suspiciously like it had been boiled down to a science. Another tell was the fact that Ivarsson's natural vantage point towards the crowd seemed to be 35-40 feet off stage. On a tour stage in a football stadium, this would look pretty natural, but in a low-cielinged club like the Double Door, it was sterilizing.

Something else that caught my attention is the fact that the band's own songs seemed old to them. Not necessarily stale, or boring, just well worn. You know that feeling when you're working out to music and to give yourself an extra kick you put on an old standby and for whatever reason (you're tired, heard it too many times, your foot hurts, etc.) it doesn't really turn on the jets for you? That describes the Lion's share of this entire set. When they got to performing new singles off their upcoming album ("Crossing the Rubicon") the level of animation picked up considerably.

On the whole, I'd give the Sounds performance 71 thumbs up out of 100 (for comparison, Hey Champ received 88 thumbs up out of 100). I understand the pitfalls of reading too much into any one performance; maybe they just didin't have their fastball last Thursday. That being said, my professional amateur opinion that this is more simply a case of venue mismatch than anything. Had I been in even a mid-sized ampitheater, almost none of the nits described above would have presented themselves. To be succinct, I wouldn't say that sitting in on this performance made me any less of a fan of the band, but it did make me less likely to see them again in person.


(post script: For all those of you wondering: no, I did not hook up with Maja Ivarsson. I figured she's in the middle of a tour and probably has a lot on her mind. the last thing she needs right now is to get involved with an up-and-coming young blogger.)