SOUNDTRACK: LIZ PHAIR-Tiny Desk Concert #227 (June 23, 2021).
I loved Liz Phair’s first two or three albums. Then I got a little bored by her. And then she went really aggressively commercial (to not so great effect). This new single “Spanish Doors” sounds a lot like old school Phair but retains some pop sensibility in the super catchy bridge.
Liz Phair’s music was always meant to fill arenas. After a clever sleight-of-hand at the top of this Tiny Desk (home) performance, where it briefly seems we’ve returned to in-person sets behind Bob Boilen’s desk, Phair and her backing band do their best to recreate the kind of set you’d see in a much larger space; everyone plugs-in, turns it up and rocks with an impressive light show.
Phair plays three tracks from Soberish, her first new album in more than a decade.
She starts with “Spanish Doors,” a heartbreaking but hooky portrait of a marriage nearing its end.
It rocks a bit harder here with three guitars (Phair, Connor Sullivan), with lead solos from Cody Perrin. Liz seems surprisingly nervous here–or maybe her patter is rusty.
She follows with a song against loneliness called “In There.”
It’s a mellow song with snapping drums (Neal Daniels) and rumbling bass (Ben Sturley). It’s almost sounds like Liz Phair of old but is missing something.
followed by “The Game,” a meditation on the mind games that sabotage troubled relationships.
Liz switches to acoustic guitar for this one–and her guitar sounds wonderful. There’s some terrific harmonies on this corner which really does sound like old school Liz.
Phair still finds joy and a playful sense of humor in her earliest work, closing her Tiny Desk with a generous version of “Never Said,” from Exile.
I loved Exile in Guyville and listened to it all the time. It’s great to hear “Never Said” live like this. When she played a few years ago, I didn’t feel the need to go, but if she played more of these older song (and the newer ones), I’m sure it would be an enjoyable show.
[READ: July 9, 2021] “Heirs”
This was an unusual story in which reality is never fully explained.
A man, Aryeh Zelnik, is resting on a hammock on his porch. A second man pulls up in a car and heads to the porch.
The story goes into remarkably great detail about the man with his car–how he looks, what he does, even how he smells (not great).
We also learn a lot about the man on the porch. His wife has left him and now lives in America (the story is set in Israel). He has moved back in with his mother and is more or less waiting for her to die so that house can revert to him.
The man who arrives in the car, though, begins talking about legal issues. At first he is very circumspect about what he really wants.
Would it be more comfortable for you if we were to chat awhile longer about [the loveliness of the land here]? Or will you allow me to go straight, without any circumlocution, to our little agenda?
Aryeh Zelnik is suspicious if not downright annoyed by this man who claims to have official business but who keeps avoiding details and calling him Zelkin. (more…)
