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Archive for the ‘Girlpool’ Category

Girlpool / Cecile Believe (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, September 23, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Cecile Believe, Girlpool, Philadelphia, PA, Underground Arts on September 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: September 23, 2022] Girlpool / Cecile Believe

I first heard Girlpool back in 2015.  I loved the way the two members of the band sang, but not in harmony–it was more like in unison.  It gave them almost a childlike quality that somehow made their songs really impactful.

I had wanted to see them live since then.  When they came around in 2017, I had a ticket and then a last minute plan meant I couldn’t go.  They came back in 2019, but it was during our summer vacation.

Finally, they came back around in 2023, but it was the same night as several other shows, including one I wasn’t going to pass up.

Interestingly, over the past seven years a lot has happened to the band.  Avery Tucker transitioned and Harmony Tividad started exploring new facets of herself.  So they looked very different from when they first started out.

Their musical style changed a lot as well.  They no longer sounded anything like they did on the debut.  Primarily because Avery’s voice was no so much deeper.   I didn’t enjoy their music that much anymore.  So I wasn’t that upset about missing them.

Then on August 25, Girlpool announced that they will breakup at the end of the year, and that their remaining tour dates would serve as a farewell tour.  So I guess I’ll never see them live.

Cecile Believe (formerly known as Mozart’s Sister) is a solo project by Montreal-based Canadian musician Caila Thompson-Hannant.

Resident Advisor describers her music:

Cecile Believe’s vocal and emotional range, with its exhilarating twinkles of vulnerability, made an immediate impression on me when I first heard her performing “Ponyboy” and “Faceshopping”  .. Her new mixtape, Plucking A Cherry From The Void, a collection of restless and reflective lockdown-fermented electro-pop bangers, has those same attributes in ample supply.

Although I listened to a few songs and wasn’t that impressed.  It was all fine.

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Shannen Moser (Boot and Saddle, Philadelphia, PA, May 10, 2019) [KEVIN DEVINE]

Posted in Boot & Saddle, Girlpool, John K. Samson, Kevin Devine, Philadelphia, PA, Shannen Moser on May 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: May 10, 2019] Shannen Moser

It’s funny how some artists wind up as opening acts quite often.  In fact, there’s a number of bands that I could have seen many times because they opened for bands that I wanted to see.  I guess I haven’t wound up seeing all that many of these bands for whatever reason, but I do see the same opening bands popping up from time to time–especially if they are local.

A few weeks ago, Shannen Moser was scheduled to open for Girlpool, but I had to miss that show. And now a couple of weeks later, here she is opening for John K. Samson and Kevin Devine.

Shannen is from Berks County, PA.  She plays a simple kind of open-tuned guitar (such that a capo is all you need to make a chord sound good).  Some of her songs have a finger-picking section as well.

Her lyrics are personal and often pointed.

She told some amusing stories in between song–amusing stories that often led to rather dark songs.  She sings in a powerful style–with countryish inflections.

There were a few times when she sang so loud that I had to put earplugs in–which I did not need for the other two.  She had a song where she seemed to growl some of the lyrics as well.

It was a treat to hear her really let loose.

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Girlpool / Hatchie / Shannen Moser (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, April 26, 2019) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Girlpool, Hatchie, Philadelphia, PA, Shannen Moser, Underground Arts on April 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: April 26, 2019] Girlpool / Hatchie / Shannen Moser

I first heard Girlpool back in 2015.  I loved the way the two members of the band sang, but not in harmony–it was more like in unison.  It gave them almost a childlike quality that somehow made their songs really impactful.

Plus, their music was very spare–it was unusual amid a field of similar sounding bands.

I had wanted to see them live since then.  When they came around in 2017, I had a ticket and then a last minute plan meant I couldn’t go.

Now they came back, but we were on vacation.

Since that first album, though, Avery Tucker has transitioned and now their voice is much lower than it was.  So they can’t sing the songs the way they did.

I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to see them now. But the issue was moot anyway.

Hatchie is a singer that I want to see.  I was supposed to see her in 2018 but that show fell through.

Shannen Moser is from Berks County, PA.  She plays a simple kind of open-tuned guitar (such that a capo is all you need to make a chord sound good).  Some of her songs have a finger-picking section as well.

I’ll actually be seeing her open for John K. Samson and Kevin Devine in a few weeks.

There’s a full review of the show from 34th Street.  I’m posting some highlights.

I did not have high expectations for the first opener, Philadelphia local Shannen Moser. She, however, blew me away. Supported only by a cello, Moser filled the cavernous venue with her powerful voice and haunting lyrics. ָAlthough quite different genre–wise than the following acts, she still managed to win over the gathering crowd. It was not a large group at this point, but those who were there were very engaged.  …  folk simplicity at its finest.

Next came direct support, Hatchie, the project of Australian singer and bassist, Harriette Pilbeam. Pilbeam and her band exuded an effortless cool on stage without taking themselves too seriously. Her sultry vocals sounded natural and graceful. The music itself felt like an amalgam of surfy pop–y summery grunge.  What surprised me the most, however, was how many people came out just for Hatchie. I talked to several fans after their set who said they didn’t even know who Girlpool was—they had only come for Hatchie. All of them had a similar story: they found her on Spotify through their Weekly Discover playlist. Regardless, Hatchie now has a growing and devoted American following.

Girlpool is the project of Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker, but their touring ensemble swelled to include a second guitarist/bassist, a drummer, and a keys player.  Throughout the set, Tividad, Tucker, and the guitarist/bassist switched instruments in a rather comical display of sharing. They focused their set on their newer material, especially their latest album, What Chaos Is Imaginary. This makes sense, given that Tucker came out in 2017 as transgender (Tucker now uses they/them pronouns), and has been undergoing hormonal therapy, which lowered their voice a full octave. As a result, they are now unable to sing many of Girlpool’s early hits.  Tucker’s transition marked a sort of transition in the band’s sound. What was once sparse DIY has become a more ambiguous, effortless, ethereal soundscape that permeated the venue and delighted the crowd.

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Jeff Lemire–Lost Dogs (2005) [reprint 2012]

Posted in Canadian Content, Death, Girlpool, Graphic Novel, Jeff Lemire, Steven Soderbergh, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence on July 31, 2015| Leave a Comment »

lostdogsSOUNDTRACK: GIRLPOOL-Tiny Desk Concert #454 (July 10, 2015).

girlpoolGirlpool is a duo consisting of Cleo Tucker (guitar) and Harmony Tividad (bass).  Both women sing and what’s interesting about their singing is that they don’t sing harmony–they sing in unison, which gives them an really interesting resonance.  And when they do hit the occasional harmony it sounds magical.

As for the guitar and bass, they are playing largely the same thing there as well–with occasional guitar soloing.

The band has a new album out.  It’s pretty short (10 songs in about 25 minutes), and it is as direct and unsettling as it is catchy.  The riffs are unexpected and the pair sound so honest and exposed.  It’s really quite something.  It has the air of a novelty (two people, no drums), but aside from a few lyrics that are thoughtful/funny, there’s no joking from these two.  You can see from this photo that Cleo is really into it.

They play three songs: “Before The World Was Big” (the title track of the new album) which has an unusually paced riff and Cleo & Harmony’s stark vocals.  The harmonies when they get to “One hundred, one million, billion, trillion times” is really great.  I also like how they start singing in a round to end the song.  “Ideal World” has an even simpler riff (with a very cool dissonant guitar notes every few lines) and some cool harmonies.  And Tucker’s wailing guitar solo at the end is pretty shocking.  “Cherry Picking” opens as a far slower song, but it picks up after the first verse and has one of the few times when Cleo and Harmony are playing different things on their instruments.  Their singing at the end is really intense.

I like their album a lot and this is a great Tiny Desk Concert.

[READ: May 18, 2015] Lost Dogs

I picked up Lemire’s Essex County at the library and while there I also saw Lost Dogs.  I didn’t know anything about Lemire, but Essex County looked really cool, so why not grab his other book while it’s there?

Well, this was Lemire’s first proper book. He started it while trying to finish the 24 hour challenge–a 24 page comic in 24 hours.  He failed the challenge but he loved what he was doing so much that he decided to finish up what he started and he made this first book.

I’m glad I read Essex County first because Lost Dogs is so rough, so sketchy, that I wouldn’t have realized how talented Lemire was from this book alone.  This book is definitely an “early days” kind of project–a way to see where he came from.  Not that the story isn’t good, but that it is very rough (intentionally so).  It also notes that in the reproduction the lettering was made to look nicer because no one wants to read sloppy lettering.

If nothing else, I will enjoy this quote from Timothy Callahan who says that Steven Soderbergh said “audiences will put up with poor picture quality as long as the sound is clear, but a crisp picture and problematic audio will turn off even the most eager viewers.”  Callahan adds “the same is true for comics, where slick lettering can help even the most chaotic sequence of images seem readable.”  So remember, make sure your letters are good! (more…)

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